Census: Marriages are lasting longer

by Michael Foust                                                                                                   Vol. XXIV, No. 7, August 2011

After years of increases in the U.S. divorce rate, more marriages are staying together. The U.S. Census reports that three out of four people who got married after 1990 were still married 10 years later. That is up 3 percentage points from the 1980s, when divorce hit a record high. Nationwide, an estimated 4 in 10 marriages end in divorce.

"Marriage has become a much more selective institution in today's society," W. Bradford Wilcox, director of The National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, told The Washington Post. "People who are college-educated, more affluent, or more religious are more likely to get married and stay married. People who are not are less likely to get married in the first place, and if they do marry, they're more likely to divorce."

According to the census statistics, more than half of the nation's married couples have been together at least 15 years. About a third have marked their 25th anniversaries, and 6 percent have been married more than 50 years. [BP]