The divorce rate in the USA is dropping. Many experts are trying to explore the reasons behind this declining rate. Some are concerned whether the factors that cause this sudden drop are beneficial to future marriage or not. Here we have tried to investigate the real scenario.
The real scenario behind the statistics
In 1980, 50% of all marriages end in divorce. Recently it drops to 39% in the USA. In general, the promising news indicates that families are sticking together than earlier. But in reality, recent study findings revealed that these statistics do not mean more people are living happily ever after.
The study shows that now many young people are delaying marriage to feel financially secure. Those who stopped their education at high school are more concerned about their future financial security. As income inequality is rising the young people are getting married at a later part of their life after gaining some financial stability.
In 2018, 15% of young people ages 25 to 34 lived with their unmarried partners. More than 9% of young people were cohabiting while 7% were married at that time. Two decades ago, the scenario was quite different. Nearly 5% were cohabiting and 14% were married.
The current census figures show that the median age of first marriage has increased. In 2003, the median age of getting first marriage is 27 for males and 25 for females, But now it becomes 30 for males and 28 for females.
Now two types of cohabiting are functioning. One type of couples staying together just because they are almost sure that they’ve found a good match. They just want to go for a final check before getting married. Another type of couple is cohabiting just because to solve looming liquidity, logistical, or loneliness problem. These types of couples are less likely to get married.
Why is it a bad news?
The Brookings Institute explained that there’s a 50-50 chance that a cohabiting couple has a child. In most cases, the pregnancy was not planned. According to Pew Research, every two children of cohabiting parents experience parental breakup at the early age of their lives. The statistics also show some other dark sides of this situation. 16% of the cohabiting parents are living below the poverty line. Things get more disgraceful when they split up. 27% of solo parents are spending their lives in poverty.