Perhaps I’m leading a trend:
Census Bureau figures for 2003 show one-third of men and nearly one-quarter of women between 30 and 34 have never married, nearly four times the rates in 1970.
. . .
Data from the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey released this week show the age at which someone typically marries for the first time increased from 20.8 for women and 23.2 for men in 1970 to 25.3 and 27.1, respectively, last year.
In 1970, about 6 percent of women 30 to 34 had never married; the figure was nearly 23 percent in 2003. The rate for never-married men in the same age group increased from about 9 percent to 33.1 percent.
On the other hand, there’s this:
Census figures also show fewer Americans at older ages who never have been married. In 1970, 8 percent of people 65 and older never had married; now it’s 4 percent.
There are several trends at work here, and your results may vary. I’m a little intrigued when I hear about people getting married in their teens or early twenties; seems like many people’s lives don’t settle down until they are in their mid-twenties. But perhaps that’s just me.
Just imagine being in my minorityheterosexual, yet diversity-supporting, single male, who supports the notion of mariage, and is, to boot, a nuclear-power-supporting male…. Talk about small percentages….