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A Record Number Of 40-Year-Olds In the United States Have Never Been Married
Epoch Times ^ | 07/03/2023 | Jane Nguyen

Posted on 07/03/2023 9:00:50 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

According to a new analysis of Census Bureau data by the Pew Research Center, a record number of 40-year-old Americans who have never been married reached a record high in 2021.

A quarter of 40-year-olds in the United States have never been married, Pew Research reported on June 28. Most lived alone, with just 22 percent of never-married 40- to 44- year-olds living with a romantic partner.


(Serhii Yurkiv/Shutterstock)

The findings revealed a downward trend of delaying marriage or foregoing it altogether among people born during or after the 1960s, according to the report. In 1980 only 6 percent of 40-year-olds had never been married. That increased by five percentage points per decade until 2021.

The trend is “notable because the share of 40-year-olds who had completed at least a bachelor’s degree was much higher in 2021 than in 1980, 39 percent versus 18 percent, said Richard Fry, a Pew senior researcher.

“More-highly educated 40-year-olds are more likely to have married, but the growth of this group has not reversed the overall trend of delaying or forgoing marriage,” Fry added.

The Pew report found that 40-year-old men were more likely not to have been married than women in 2021, with 28 percent of men and 22 percent of women falling into this category.

The Pew analysis noted that many unmarried 40-year-olds in previous decades ultimately married later in life. About 1 in 4 of the 40-year-olds who were not yet married in 2001 had wed by the time they turned 60.

If the pattern continues, the research center predicts that “a similar share” of never-married 40-year-olds would also get married in the coming years.

The research center conducted the analysis to look at how marriage rates have changed among 40-year-olds in the United States from 1850 to 2021. The report comes as birth rates and marriage rates in the United States have declined for decades.

Meanwhile, a 2022 report from the University of Virginia’s National Marriage Project found the median age of first marriage has increased over the last 50 years, “from 23 in 1970 to about 30 in 2021 for men, and from 21 in 1970 to 28 in 2021 for women.”

But a later marriage may not necessarily mean a better one: 81 percent of husbands who married earlier said they were satisfied in their marriages, compared to 71 percent of those who married later, the report found. There were similar results among women, though with a smaller difference–73 percent of earlier-married women were satisfied, compared to 70 percent of later-married women, the report said.

The Rise of Single People

The decreasing marriage rate has led to a spike in the number of people living alone. As of 2021, 37 million Americans live alone, according to census data.

There are various reasons marriage is losing ground in America. Some of them are societal; there is very little public stigma around being single. Other factors include the sexual revolution, the feminist movement, and declining rates of religious observance.

However, this phenomenon is not confined to the United States, as marriage and birth rates have fallen in much of the world, including Europe and Japan.

While not all adults living alone are lonely, many are, and these individuals are more likely to lack significant social connections, which can be deadly.

According to a recent report from the U.S. surgeon general titled “Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation,” loneliness is more than just a bad feeling, it harms individual and societal health. It’s associated with a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, infection, anxiety, and premature death.

According to the report, the effect on mortality of being socially disconnected is similar to that of smoking up to 15 cigarettes per day and is even greater than those of obesity and physical inactivity.

Large population studies have documented that among initially healthy people tracked over time, those who are more socially connected live longer, and those who experience social deficits, including isolation, loneliness, and poor-quality relationships, are more likely to die earlier, regardless of the cause of death, according to the report.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: marriage; single; usa
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To: SeekAndFind

Feminists are repulsive and they aren’t women. There aren’t many women in the USA but there is plenty of feminist filth.


41 posted on 07/04/2023 4:50:27 AM PDT by bankwalker (Repeal the 19th ...)
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To: bgill

Why buy the cow when you can get ilk for free?

Spinsterism is stylishly correct


42 posted on 07/04/2023 4:53:50 AM PDT by bert ( (KWE. NP. N.C. +12) Joe Biden is a kleptocrat)
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To: Bullish
When you can get all the milk you want for free, why marry the cow?

Slut's response:

When you can get all the horn you want for free, why put up with the Bull?

Step 1: Strong independent woman slut.

Step 2 (hitting the wall age 30-35): Where have all the good men gone?

43 posted on 07/04/2023 4:57:29 AM PDT by grey_whiskers ( The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: combat_boots

Demonic.


44 posted on 07/04/2023 5:02:55 AM PDT by grey_whiskers ( The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: JudyinCanada
The Sound of Freedom Official Trailer
45 posted on 07/04/2023 5:04:53 AM PDT by grey_whiskers ( The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Self terminating society.


46 posted on 07/04/2023 5:35:59 AM PDT by GingisK
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To: combat_boots

That woman is 55 years old and can’t sing a note. Her voice is autotuned almost beyond recognition as human and is mechanically made to sound like a 12-year-old. But that’s what passes for excellence in pop music these days.


47 posted on 07/04/2023 6:51:53 AM PDT by Avalon Memories (Liberalism is a philosophy of sniveling brats. -- P.J. O’Rourke)
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To: SeekAndFind

Maybe it’s because men with noodle arms don’t exactly get women revved up?


48 posted on 07/04/2023 6:56:35 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (FBI out of Florida!)
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To: Gritty

A lovely young woman without all those attributes will still get my motor running.

Unfortunately, I’m 56.


49 posted on 07/04/2023 6:57:54 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (FBI out of Florida!)
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I just turned 60 and have never been married. A lot of people find it weird or strange. I find it blissful.


50 posted on 07/04/2023 7:18:05 AM PDT by Negan
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To: Bullish

Are they marrying cows now?


51 posted on 07/04/2023 7:25:55 AM PDT by Leep (What skill or service did the biden family have that netted them tens of millions of dollars?)
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To: SaveFerris

Get here bro. 😀


52 posted on 07/04/2023 7:29:19 AM PDT by Mark17 (Retired USAF air traffic controller. Father of USAF Captain & pilot. Both bitten by the aviation bug)
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To: SeekAndFind

If you think about it, sex is a form of entertainment in a way. And before the Internet, Video Games, Cellphones etc. that allow humans to be constantly entertained, well, the options for entertainment were slim, so, what the heck, why not have sex to pass the time? Watch the Carson monologue, turn off the TV, and go to it!


53 posted on 07/04/2023 7:29:27 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: bgill

My only brother was too into himself, No commonsense, Nose in comic books, then computers. Couldn’t hold a job. Didn’t help Mom took care of all his basic needs, roof, food, and clothes, then my middle sis inherited him when she died. I wouldn’t take him. I didn’t baby my 3 boys. She got tired of his crap and put him in a small travel trailer in her backyard. When he died at 58, he had a little over $1,000 in the bank DSSI MONEY. We cremated him and held a home wake.


54 posted on 07/04/2023 7:40:29 AM PDT by GailA (Constitution vs evil Treasonous political Apparatchiks, Constitutional Conservative.)
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To: SeekAndFind

As an average white male, living in the northeast, women here tend to be stuck up, cold fish, looking for Mr. Perfect.


55 posted on 07/04/2023 8:31:18 AM PDT by kickstart ("A gun is a tool. It is only as good or as bad as the man who uses it" . Alan Ladd in 'Shane' )
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To: kickstart

A.K.A. Yankee bitches ...


56 posted on 07/04/2023 8:36:51 AM PDT by bankwalker (Repeal the 19th ...)
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To: SeekAndFind

When it comes to marriage there is only downside for the guys.
I tell the younger guys, go out to the club and find a woman that hates your guts, buy her a house, then give her half your pay for the next twenty years.


57 posted on 07/04/2023 9:03:59 AM PDT by Keyhopper (Indians had bad immigration laws)
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To: Keyhopper

I think with online dating and Tinder, there is the “lots of fish in the sea” syndrome. People think if someone isn’t ‘perfect’ they can always find somebody better.

Then one day, they wake up and realize that there wasn’t anybody better, but it’s too late.


58 posted on 07/04/2023 9:05:46 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: dfwgator

Man do I miss the 70s. You had to have game.


59 posted on 07/04/2023 9:07:28 AM PDT by Keyhopper (Indians had bad immigration laws)
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To: Leep

I met my wife when we were both 18, a southern girl, no pre-marital sex... Got married at 24. Coming up on our 25th silver anniversary. My life has been so much more fulfilling, seeing her lovely smile each day, and cherishing her until death parts us both.

The point is, marriage is a picture of Christ and His bride, the Church. Destroy that in society, and what point is there in having the picture? This is why marriage is dying.


60 posted on 07/04/2023 9:09:07 AM PDT by Darth Gill
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