Item from the Smart Marriages Archive, reproduced in the Divorce Statistics Collection

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February 13, 1999

Census Bureau keeps track of love -- and love lost
By Lee Davidson, Washington correspondent

The federal government isn't just a big, heartless,
bureaucratic morass after all. It collects annual data about how well
Cupid is
doing his job for Valentine's Day.
The Census Bureau provides statistics that may not exactly capture
the
fireworks and splendor of love, but they provide an idea each year of how
many
people are finding it -- and losing it.
Take, for example, marriage - please (as comedian Henny Youngman
might
have urged).
The Census Bureau notes that during 1996, 2.3 million marriages and
1.2
million divorces occurred in the nation. In line-dancing terms, that's two
steps forward and one step back.
The bureau notes that also translates into 6,400 marriages and 3,200
divorces on a typical day -- and county courthouses full of people going
in
opposite directions.
It also says that Nevada -- so close yet so far from Utah -- was the
nation's capital for both marriages and divorces.
Nevada's marriage rate -- 88.1 per 1,000 population -- was miles
ahead of
second-place Hawaii's rate of 15.8. (Utah's rate was 11.1 per 1,000
population).
And Nevada's divorce rate was 8.1 per 1,000 population -- about 21
percent higher than the three states (Wyoming, New Mexico and Oklahoma)
that
tied for second at 6.7 per 1,000.
Meanwhile, Utah's divorce rate was 4.8 per 1,000 " about 41 percent
lower than Nevada's divorce rate.
Hmmm. Why would divorce rates in Utah and Nevada be so different?
The
geology, water and air are similar. Might it have something to do with the
differing number of Mormons, casinos, saloons, strip clubs and legalized
prostitution in each?
The government's numbers also show that Cupid requires more time
before
convincing people to marry nowadays.
The estimated median age for Americans at first marriage in 1998 was
25.0 years for women and 26.7 years for men. That was the oldest mark for
women in the 20th Century, and second-oldest for men (which dipped 0.4
years
after reaching a 20th Century high in 1996).
Fifty years ago in 1947, Cupid worked much more quickly. The
average age
at first marriage for men was 22.7 years old (a full four years younger
than
now), and 20.4 years for women (or 4.6 years younger than now).
Meanwhile, growing numbers of Americans have never been married.
In 1998, 35 percent of all Americans ages 25 to 34 had never been
married (that's 13.7 million people). But for those aged 35 to 44, that
drops
to 15 percent who have never been married (or 6.8 million people).
The government's data also suggest that younger women seem to have
better odds of finding a mate than young men.
That's because for ages 18 to 44, there are 114 unmarried men
(either
never married, widowed or divorced) for every 100 unmarried women.
At older ages, however, the ratios reverse dramatically.
For ages 45 to 64, there are 146 unmarried women for every 100
unmarried
men. And for those 65 and older, there are 315 unmarried women for every
100
unmarried men.

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