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You’re not the only one spending fewer summer weekends watching other people get married—but don’t worry, the weddings you’re still invited to might feel a little more special these days.
Fewer Americans are getting married, and the ones who still are have scaled back their weddings. Their nuptials are becoming smaller, though not necessarily cheaper, affairs.
Many couples are waiting longer and longer to schedule their weddings. In 2015, the median first-time American bride was almost 28 years old and the median groom almost 30, according to the most recent data available from the Census Bureau. (Ten years earlier, the typical bride was 25.5, the typical groom 27.)
The U.S. marriage rate—the number of new marriages per 1,000 people—has been falling for decades. It fell especially fast during the recession, in 2008 and 2009, but there’s little evidence that people started getting married again even as the economy recovered. And research firm IbisWorld predicts the marriage rate will keep falling over the next five years.
From a global perspective, that wouldn’t be a surprise. The U.S. marriage rate would need to fall by about a third to reach the marriage rates in other developed countries. The most recent data show a U.S. marriage rate of 6.9, compared with an average rate of 4.6 for countries in the European Union.
Are weaker economics the cause, or has marriage gone out of fashion?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 31 2017, @03:17AM
I might spend $30,000 if I had about $10,000,000 by net worth and by liquid assets. It's a matter of spending 0.1% to 1% of what you have. Add or remove several digits if you are a billionaire or thousandaire.
Women are increasingly unsatisfied with life. Many of them are unable to feel attracted to a man who earns less or is less educated, and the men have generally soured on the whole legal situation, so marriage isn't happening. That doesn't get rid of the human emotional need for a family, which is especially strong in women. The fertile years go by, the women become undesirable, and we get a lot of cat ladies. Cats partially fill an emotional need for babies.
One way or another, this situation won't last. The people who have kids will pass their behavior on to the next generation, via both DNA and culture. We may end up with stupid people, universal Islam, or an instinctive passion for making lots of kids.