Among all people 15 and older in 2009, 55
percent had been married once, with 30 percent never having been married at all,
according to a U.S. Census Bureau report released today. At the same time, 15
percent had married more than once, including 12 percent who had married twice
and 3 percent who had married three or more times.
gThe findings come from Number, Timing, and
Duration of Marriages and Divorces: 2009 [PDF], which uses data from
the Survey of Income and Program Participation to provide a look at topics such
as changes in the age at marriage, divorce and remarriage over the years, how
long first marriages last, people who have been married multiple times, those
who have been divorced or experienced other marital events, and the percentage
of currently married couples that include spouses who are both in their first
marriage.
More than half of currently married couples (55
percent) had been married for at least 15 years, while 35 percent had reached
their 25th anniversary. A small percentage — 6 percent — had even passed their
golden (50th) wedding anniversary. These percentages are about 1 to 2 percentage
points higher than they were in 1996, reflecting both the leveling of divorce
rates and increases in life expectancy.
For most couples (72 percent), both spouses were in
their first marriage. Six percent of those married included a wife in her second
marriage and husband in his first, 8 percent a husband in his second marriage
and wife in her first, and 8 percent in which both spouses were in their second
marriage. A small percentage of all currently married couples (1 percent)
consisted of a husband and wife who had both been married three or more
times.
Other highlights:
- First marriages that ended in divorce lasted a median of
eight years for men and women. The median time from marriage to separation was
shorter — about seven years.
- Half of men and women in all the race and Hispanic-origin
groups who remarried after divorcing from their first marriage did so within
about four years.
- For all groups of women 25 and older, the majority had
married, as had the majority of men 30 and older.
- About one in five men and women ages 50 to 69 had married
twice.
- Among people 70 and older, 23 percent of men and 51 percent
of women had been widowed, and most were still widowed and had not remarried
at the time of the survey.
- A higher proportion of the recently married in 2009 were
Hispanic than in 1996. While one in 10 recently married adults was Hispanic in
1996, this increased to one in five by 2009.
- A higher proportion of recently married women had at least a
bachelor's degree in 2009 (31 percent) than in 1996 (21 percent).
- Changes in the percentage of women who never married between
1986 and 2009 suggest that a higher percentage of black women than white
non-Hispanic women may never marry.
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The data for the civilian, noninstitutionalized U.S.
population are from the 2008 panel of the Survey of Income and Program
Participation, which interviewed men and women 15 years and older in about
39,000 households. Statistics from sample surveys are subject to sampling and
nonsampling error.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau | Public Information Office |
PIO@census.gov | Last Revised: May 18, 2011