A new study claims one-in-three young adults in the United States will never marry. Writing for the Institute for Family Studies (IFS), Lyman Stone says these are close to the lowest levels ever observed for marriage rates.”Many commentators will blame these declines on the increased delay in marriage. While there’s some truth to this, the situation is extreme at higher ages, too,” he writes.
“For instance, only about 60 percent of 35-year-old men are ever-married today, down from 90 percent in 1980. This trend also suggests that a growing share of Americans will not get married before their healthiest years are long past them,” he continues.
Stone is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Family Studies and Chief Information Officer of the population research firm Demographic Intelligence.
He says it is striking that just 20 percent of 25-year-old women and 23 percent of 25-year-old men have ever married today.
“In 1967, about 85 percent of 25-year-old women had ever married, along with 75 percent of 25-year-old men. This was the height of the Baby Boom years,” Stone writes.
However, he points out that these marriages also ended up having the highest divorce rates observed in American history.
Stone also notes those Baby Boomer rates were also unusual: In 1920, he says just 70 percent of 25-year-old women and 50 percent of 25-year-old men had ever been married.
“There’s no reason to suppose young-adult marriage rates ever could have, or even should have, remained at Baby Boom-era levels,” he writes.
He says many commentators will blame the current declines on the increased delay in marriage.
“While there’s some truth to this, the situation is extreme at higher ages, too. As the figure below shows, ever-married shares today are at historic lows for 35-year-old and 45-year-old men and women,” Stone says.