Married to the minority

I've been meaning to blog this for a few days now. You probably read the recent census report that shows, for the first time in history, that married couples now comprise a minority of U.S. households. According to the New York Times, married couples in 1930 accounted for 84 percent of households in the U.S. By 1990, that number had fallen to about 56 percent. Then in 2005 it dipped to 49.7 percent.

The census survey estimated that 5.2 million couples, a little more than 5 percent of households, were unmarried opposite-sex partners. An additional 413,000 households were male couples, and 363,000 were female couples. In all, nearly one in 10 couples were unmarried. (One in 20 households consisted of people living alone). And the numbers of unmarried couples are growing. Since 2000, those identifying themselves as unmarried opposite-sex couples rose by about 14 percent, male couples by 24 percent and female couples by 12 percent.

Much of the increase among gay and lesbian couples likely resulted from undercounting, as couples were less likely to disclose their arrangment in preceding census surveys. Meanwhile, what do you think the decline in traditional married families means for America?

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