USCCB - (FLWY) - A Select Snapshot of Marriage in the U.S.

A Select Snapshot of Marriage in the U.S.

People are getting married later in life. Median age for males is 27; for females it is 25.
In a given year nearly half of all marriages are remarriages for one or both partners.
Marriage rate (annual number of marriages per 1,000 unmarried adult women) continues to decline. It has dropped 50% (to 45.6) in fifty years. The marriage rate for Blacks is considerably lower than for any other U.S. population group.
The percentage of never married persons aged 25—35 has increased by 20% in the past thirty years, suggesting more lifelong singlehood.
From 40% to 50% of Catholic marriages are between a Catholic and a non-Catholic; regional averages may be higher or lower.
Within the first few years of marriage nearly half of all inter-church couples become same-church because one spouse or both change religious affiliation.
Roughly two-thirds of both married men and married women rate their marriages as “very happy”. This has remained mostly steady for the past thirty years.
There has been a modest decline in the divorce rate since it reached an all-time high in 1980; there are now 18 divorces (rather than 22) per 1,000 married women.
The projected rate of divorcing still stands at around 50% -- this represents the percentage of marriages (first and remarriage) entered into during a particular year that are projected to end in divorce or separation before one spouse dies.
About one-third of adults who have ever been married and are still living have experienced a divorce. This percentage rises to 46% for the baby boom generation.
Catholics are substantially less likely than Protestants to get divorced (25% versus 39%).
One’s chances of divorce are diminished by such factors as: older age, higher income, more education, having a religious affiliation, absence of divorce in family of origin, and having a child after marriage.
More than 80% of couples seeking to be married in the Catholic Church participate in a marriage preparation program.
The highest percentage of divorces occurs within the first three years of marriage.
Cohabitation (sexual partners sharing a household) has increased 1100% in forty years. Over 50% of first marriages are preceded by cohabitation.
Almost 40% of cohabiting households have children in them.

May 2005