Americans Increasingly Opting Out of Marriage

by AmeriStat staff

See graph 1 (PDF: 23KB)

See graph 2 (PDF: 7KB)

(AmeriStat, March 2003) Between 1975 and 2002, the share of Americans who had never married increased from about 24 percent to 29 percent. Among the different racial and ethnic groups, blacks have experienced the most dramatic decline in marriage. Between 1975 and 2002, the percentage of blacks who had never married increased from 32 percent to 43 percent. During the same period, the percentage of blacks who were married decreased from 42 percent to 33 percent. For blacks and non-Hispanic whites, trends in marriage have stabilized since the mid-1990s (see graph). The percentage of Hispanics who have never married has increased, however — from 33 percent in 2000 to 36 percent in 2002.

AmeriStat, tabulations from the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey (March Supplement), various years.

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