Saturday 14 May 2011

Marriage Statistics

Marriages are made in heaven. Or so goes the saying. However marriage statistics have a different story to tell. The availability of detailed marriage statistics has practically come to a halt since the year 1996. One cannot underestimate the importance of marriage and divorce statistics. These are important statistics that help to identify and understand trends that are taking place in this regard. Given below are details regarding statistics related to marriage that will help you get a clearer picture about marriages in the United States.

Statistics Related to Marriages in the United States

    * Over the last many decades, the number of marriages that have taken place in the Unites States has seen a decline, wheres the rate of cohabitation, divorce and childbearing out of wedlock have seen a significant rise.
    * From the year 1970 through to 1996, the marriage rate in the United States appallingly fell by more than one-third, that is, from 77 to only 50 marriages per thousand unmarried women.
    * One of the marriage statistics study say that the marriage rate in the United States is around 7.1 per 1000 population, whereas the divorce rate hovers around 3.5 per 1000 population.
    * From the year 1960 till the year 1998, the number of couples that were having a live-in relationship increased by nearly ten times, that is, from a figure of 439,000 couples to 4.2 million couples.
    * There is almost a 50% probability that women will be married by the age of twenty-five. However, a 50% probability that men will have married for the first time is seen only after men have reached the age of twenty-seven years.
    * The probability of a first marriage by the age 18 years is very low for both men and women in the United States; 6% for women and 2% for men. Read more on average marriage age.
    * Around 1.3 million children are born to unwed mothers each year.
    * Couples that remarry experience a relatively much higher rate of divorce when compared to first time married couples.
    * According to the marriage statistics retrieved from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth more than 70% of men and women that fall in the age group of 25 and 44 years have been married. The overall probability that men and women will marry by the time they reach the age of forty years is over 80%.
    * Around two-thirds of American teenagers believe that it is better to live with someone prior to marriage to be sure of compatibility and thus, to hopefully ensure that the marriage is not a failure.
    * Couples in second marriages, including step siblings and step family members, experience a large amount of internal friction and relational challenges when compared to marriages between people that do not have any children or family from the previous spouse.
    * Almost nine in ten youth want to be married at some point of time in their life and almost 93% believe marriage to be a commitment that they are in for life.
    * Almost one-third of Americans that fall in the age group of 24 and 34 years have never married.
    * Although majority of men and women aged between 35 and 44 years have entered their first marriages by the age of 35 years, lower percentages of men have done so when compared to women.

This was a small peek into marriage statistics in the Unites States. Although there is not a shade of doubt that marital problems tend to come in the way of many couples that think that marriage is a bed of roses. However, with a little bit of marriage counseling and some effort put in from the couples side, the trend of decreasing marriages and increasing divorces can hopefully, be a thing of the past.

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