The introductory text reads, Adults seek committed partners, but do not always find them—age, cohort, and
culture are always influential. Some choose to avoid marriage, more commonly in northern Europe and less commonly in
North Africa than in the United States. As you see, in 2018, U. S. emerging adults were unlikely to marry,
middle-aged adults had the highest rates of separation or divorce, and widows often chose to stay alone while
widowers often remarried.
A four part population pyramid infographic titled marital status in the
United States compares percent of men and women across different age groups who are married, widowed, divorced or
separated, and never married. The horizontal axis represents percentage and is at the top. The vertical axis
represents age in years from top to bottom ranging from 15 years to 85 + years. The total percent of men and women
is given at the top of the vertical axis before the label, 15 years. All values are approximate.
The first
population pyramid is labeled married. The total percent of married men and women are 51 percent and 49 percent
respectively. The percent of men who are married increases from 25 percent, after reaching 25 years, to 50 percent
and above, after reaching 35 years and stays above 50 percent upon reaching 85 + years. The percent of women who are
married increases to 50 percent upon reaching 35 years and stays above 50 percent till 80 years. It declines sharply
after 85 + years to less than 25 percent.
The second population pyramid is labeled widowed. The total percent
of widowed men and women are 1 percent and 10 percent respectively. The percent of widowed men remains negligible
till an age of 70 years and finally increases to over 25 percent upon reaching 85 + years. The percent of widowed
women steadily increases at sharp intervals from 65 years and reaches over 50 percent at an age of 85 + years.
The third population pyramid is labeled divorced or separated. The total percent of divorced or separated men and
women are 10 percent and 12 percent respectively. The percent of divorced or separated men gradually increases from
age 30 till age 50 at 20 percent. It plateaus till 65 years and begins a gradual decline to 80 years at less than 10
percent. The percent of divorced or separated women displays exactly the same trend as observed with divorced or
separated men.
The fourth population pyramid is labeled never married. The total percent of men and women who
never married are 35 percent and 28 percent. The percent of men and women who have never married begins at age 15
with a large percent of almost a 100 percent. The trends for both men and women mirror each other. They both display
a steady decline as age increases and display negligible percent upon reaching 65 years of age.
An
infographic below is titled top reasons for getting married according to U. S. adults. The data is as follows,
Love, 88 percent; Making a lifelong commitment, 81 percent; Companionship, 76 percent; Having children, 49 percent;
A relationship recognized in a religious ceremony, 30 percent; Financial stability, 28 percent; Legal rights and
benefits, 23 percent.
Another infographic below is titled nearly half of new marriages involve remarriages.
The data is as follows,
Remarriage for one spouse, 20 percent; Remarriage for two spouses, 20 percent; First
marriage for both spouses, 60 percent.
A graph below is titled living arrangements of 25 to 34 year olds and
compares the percent of people in different living arrangements in the years 1968 and 2018. Two straight lines are
extending from 1968 to 2018 are labeled living with spouse and living with partner. The line labeled living with
spouse begins at 1968 with 81.5 percent and decreases to 40.3 percent in 2018. The line labeled living with partner
begins at 1968 with 0.2 percent and increases to 14.8 percent in 2018.