What Marriage Rates Were the Year You Were Born

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What marriage rates were the year you were born

It may seem more people than ever are getting married. In 1967, interracial marriage was legalized at the federal level; in 2015, same-sex marriage achieved the same victory. If you're a late-20s-something professional, the seven wedding invitations on your fridge certainly imply more marriages than ever are happening.

The data tells a different story.

Marriage rates in the United States are on the decline. They've actually been sinking for decades, although there's been a slight plateau in the last few years as the marriage rate stagnates at 6.8%, the lowest in recorded history. Marriage used to be an inevitability, but increasingly attitudes towards marriage reflect skepticism about its longevity and relative importance. If nothing else, people are putting it off: Pew reports that 20% of 18-29 year olds were married in 2010, compared with 59% in 1960.

Youthful disdain is not married to matrimony. More young adults now return home after college and buy houses and cars later in life than their parents did. Financial instability could be a contributing factor: college is more expensive than ever, and many report feeling the job market is especially bleak. Another factor could be the increase in divorce rates in the last two decades of the 20th-century, meaning a large portion of traditional marrying age Americans have grown up in split households.

Diving deep into how marriage rates have trended over the years, Stacker compiled data from CDC's National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) gathered by Randal Olson, as well as national marriage and divorce rates from 2000-2016 and Statista data about the national marriage rates from 1990-2016. The marriage rate was taken by dividing the overall population of the United States in a specific year by the number of marriages that occurred that year.

So how much exactly have marriage rates changed over time? Read on to see the marriage rate in the year you were born, from 1920 to 2016.

1920

Population: 106,461,000

Number of Marriages: 1,274,000

Marriage rate per 1000 total population: 12.0%

1921

Population: 108,538,000

Number of Marriages: 1,164,000

Marriage rate per 1000 total population: 10.7%

1922

Population: 110,049,000

Number of Marriages: 1,134,000

Marriage rate per 1000 total population: 10.3%

1923

Population: 111,947,000

Number of Marriages: 1,230,000

Marriage rate per 1000 total population: 11.0%

1924

Population: 114,109,000

Number of Marriages: 1,185,000

Marriage rate per 1000 total population: 10.4%

1925

Population: 115,829,000

Number of Marriages: 1,188,000

Marriage rate per 1000 total population: 10.3%

1926

Population: 117,397,000

Number of Marriages: 1,203,000

Marriage rate per 1000 total population: 10.2%

1927

Population: 119,035,000

Number of Marriages: 1,201,000

Marriage rate per 1000 total population: 10.1%

1928

Population: 120,509,000

Number of Marriages: 1,182,000

Marriage rate per 1000 total population: 9.8%

1929

Population: 121,878,000

Number of Marriages: 1,233,000

Marriage rate per 1000 total population: 10.1%

1930

Population: 123,188,000

Number of Marriages: 1,127,000

Marriage rate per 1000 total population: 9.1%

1931

Population: 124,149,000

Number of Marriages: 1,061,000

Marriage rate per 1000 total population: 8.5%

1932

Population: 124,949,000

Number of Marriages: 982,000

Marriage rate per 1000 total population: 7.9%

1933

Population: 125,690,000

Number of Marriages: 1,098,000

Marriage rate per 1000 total population: 8.7%

1934

Population: 126,485,000

Number of Marriages: 1,302,000

Marriage rate per 1000 total population: 10.3%

1935

Population: 127,362,000

Number of Marriages: 1,327,000

Marriage rate per 1000 total population: 10.4%

1936

Population: 128,181,000

Number of Marriages: 1,369,000

Marriage rate per 1000 total population: 10.7%

1937

Population: 128,961,000

Number of Marriages: 1,451,000

Marriage rate per 1000 total population: 11.3%

1938

Population: 129,969,000

Number of Marriages: 1,331,000

Marriage rate per 1000 total population: 10.2%

1939

Population: 131,028,000

Number of Marriages: 1,404,000

Marriage rate per 1000 total population: 10.7%

1940

Population: 132,122,000

Number of Marriages: 1,596,000

Marriage rate per 1000 total population: 12.1%

1941

Population: 133,402,000

Number of Marriages: 1,696,000

Marriage rate per 1000 total population: 12.7%

1942

Population: 134,860,000

Number of Marriages: 1,772,000

Marriage rate per 1000 total population: 13.1%

1943

Population: 136,739,000

Number of Marriages: 1,577,000

Marriage rate per 1000 total population: 11.5%

1944

Population: 138,397,000

Number of Marriages: 1,452,000

Marriage rate per 1000 total population: 10.5%

1945

Population: 139,928,000

Number of Marriages: 1,613,000

Marriage rate per 1000 total population: 11.5%

1946

Population: 141,389,000

Number of Marriages: 2,291,000

Marriage rate per 1000 total population: 16.2%

1947

Population: 144,126,000

Number of Marriages: 1,992,000

Marriage rate per 1000 total population: 13.8%

1948

Population: 146,631,000

Number of Marriages: 1,811,000

Marriage rate per 1000 total population: 12.4%

1949

Population: 149,188,000

Number of Marriages: 1,580,000

Marriage rate per 1000 total population: 10.6%

1950

Population: 151,684,000

Number of Marriages: 1,667,000

Marriage rate per 1000 total population: 11.0%

1951

Population: 154,287,000

Number of Marriages: 1,595,000

Marriage rate per 1000 total population: 10.3%

1952

Population: 156,954,000

Number of Marriages: 1,539,000

Marriage rate per 1000 total population: 9.8%

1953

Population: 159,565,000

Number of Marriages: 1,546,000

Marriage rate per 1000 total population: 9.7%

1954

Population: 162,391,000

Number of Marriages: 1,490,000

Marriage rate per 1000 total population: 9.2%

1955

Population: 165,275,000

Number of Marriages: 1,531,000

Marriage rate per 1000 total population: 9.3%

1956

Population: 168,221,000

Number of Marriages: 1,585,000

Marriage rate per 1000 total population: 9.4%

1957

Population: 171,274,000

Number of Marriages: 1,518,000

Marriage rate per 1000 total population: 8.9%

1958

Population: 174,141,000

Number of Marriages: 1,451,000

Marriage rate per 1000 total population: 8.3%