The Pew Research Center released an analysis of new 2010 U.S. Census data on marriage, which shows a record low in the percentage of married U.S.
adults. Only 51% of adults ages 18 and
over reported being married, down from 72% in 1960. Over the same 50-year period, divorce or
separation has increased from 5% to 14%, and the percent never married
increased from 15% to 28%.
The most telling trend in terms of marital trends can be
found in the young adult population. Twenty percent
of those ages 18 to 29 reported being married, just over one third of the
percent married 50 years ago (59%). In
addition, the median age of first marriage has increased by roughly six percent
over this time period, up to roughly 28 years old.
Though Pew does not definitively explain the declining
trends in marriage, they cite the rising share of young adults enrolled in
college and “fallout from the Great Recession” as potential contributing
factors. Pew also cites a U.N. report on
marriage in developed nations between the 1990s and 2000s, quoting: “this was ‘due
in part to an increasing acceptance of consensual [cohabiting] unions as a
replacement for marital unions,’” which may also contribute to declining
percentages in the United States.
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