The charts below give information about USA marriage and divorce rates between 1970 and 2000. andthe martial status of adult Americans in two of the years

The bar charts illustrate the number of marriages and divorces in the USA from 1970 to 2000 in 10-year intervals,

along with

the marital status of American

adults

in 1970 and 2000.

Overall

, the number of marriages declined significantly,

while

the divorce rate remained steady by the end of the period. Married individuals made up the largest proportion of

adults

,

whereas

divorced

adults

were the smallest group. From 1970 to 1990, the number of marriages remained relatively stable at 2.5

million

, but by 2000,

this

figure had dropped to 2

million

. The divorce rate began at 1

million

in 1970, peaked at almost 1.5

million

in 1980, and

then

fell back to 1

million

by 2000. In terms of marital status, 70% of

adults

were married in 1970, but

this

dropped to 60% by 2000. Widowed individuals accounted for 8% in 1970, slightly decreasing to 7% in 2000. The percentage of those who had never married increased from 15% to 20%,

while

the divorced population remained the smallest, rising from 3% to 9%. In summary, marriage rates decreased over time,

while

divorce levels remained constant, and the proportion of never-married and divorced

adults

grew.