The Pew Research Center released a report last week showing a record number of Americans have never married. Using 2012 census data, the Pew Center found that about 20 percent of people over age 25 had never been married, and the authors predict many of these will never tie the knot. This is double the share that were never married in 1960 and today, about a quarter of those ages 24 to 35 are cohabiting. Young adults also do not view marriage as particularly beneficial to society as a whole. 67 percent of those ages 18 to 29 agreed that â??society is just as well off if people have priorities other than marriage and children.â?
Interestingly, nearly 70 percent of those polled still believe it is important for couples who plan to spend their lives together to marry, and half of never married adults say they would like to marry someday. Essentially, this data confirms that our culture (particularly younger Americans) views marriage as important on a personal level, but not a societal level.
Read Full Article »