(WASHINGTON TIMES) — America’s marriage culture may be changing, but two statistics look about the same as they did 30 years ago:
- By the time women reach age 40, about eight in 10 will have married for the first time, just as they did in the 1980s.
- And 20 years later, only 52 percent of these wives will still be married – also about the same as before.
These two vital statistics are “pretty stable,” said Casey Copen, lead author of a report on first marriages released Thursday by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).
The report, which uses data from the National Survey of Family Growth 2006-2010 and previous years, confirms higher ages for marriage (28.3 years for men and 25.8 years for women), and premarital cohabiting as a normal rite of passage.
