Thread: Fewer Americans than ever are getting married

Fewer Americans than ever are getting married: poll

Just 51% of American adults are married, down from 72% in 1960

BY Nancy Dillon
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Wednesday, December 14 2011, 12:12 PM

Fewer American adults are jumping on the wedding bandwagon.

Barely half of all adults in the United States - a record low - are currently hitched, a new report from the Pew Research Institute found.

And the median age for first marriages has never been higher for brides, 26.5 years, and grooms, 28.7 years, the new Pew analysis of U.S. Census data revealed.

The report, released Wednesday, said that the number of new marriages in the U.S. declined by 5% between 2009 and 2010, a startling drop that could be related to tough economic times, growing acceptance of unmarried cohabitation and more people delaying a waltz down the aisle to attend college and start their careers.

If the current trend continues, the share of married American adults will drop to below half within a few years, Pew said.

In 1960, 72% of all U.S. adults ages 18 and older were married. Today just 51% are.

The new decline is most dramatic among young adults, Pew reported.

Today, just 20% of Americans between the ages of 18 to 29 are married, compared with 59% in 1960.

Clearly attitudes are changing, but that doesn't mean people are disavowing the ritual in droves, Pew said.

A Pew survey last year found that nearly four in ten Americans believe marriage is becoming obsolete.

Still, most people who have never married - some 61% - dreamed of tying the knot someday, the same survey found.

As for divorce, it's undoubtedly a factor in diminishing marriage's "market share."

But divorce rates have leveled off in the past two decades after climbing through the 1960s and 1970s, so divorce plays less of a role than it used to, the Pew researchers said.

ndillon@nydailynews.com

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/h ... z1gXD3FZbY

Since our nanny state makes it more lucrative to be a single parent, I'm not surprised. I remember reading about senior citizens who divorced after decades together, because it was the only way they couln't afford to live as married couples.

Young kids today know this and illegal aliens have known about this loophole for decades. That's why so many illegal alien women claim to be "single" mothers. A whole lotta freebies come their way and dad brings home the bacon too.