The charts below give information about USA marriage and divorce rates between 1970 and 2000, and the marital status of adult Americans in two of the years. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

The bar charts illustrate the

number

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of marriages and divorces in the USA from 1970 to 2000, expressed in millions,

along with

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the marital status of American

adults

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in both 1970 and 2000.

Overall

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, the

number

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of marriages declined steadily over the period,

while

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the

number

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of divorces peaked in 1980 before returning to its 1970 level by 2000.

Additionally

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, there was a notable increase in the proportion of divorced

adults

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by 2000,

while

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the percentage of married individuals dropped. In 1970, the

number

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of marriages stood at 2.5

million

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, remaining stable in 1980 before decreasing to 2

million

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by 2000. The divorce rate, which was 1

million

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in 1970, increased to 1.4

million

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in 1980

,

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and

then

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returned to 1

million

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by 2000. Regarding marital status, in 1970, 70% of

adults

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were married, but

this

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decreased to 60% by 2000. Meanwhile, the percentage of divorced individuals rose sharply, from roughly 5% to nearly 10%. The proportions of widowed and never-married

adults

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remained relatively low, with less than 10% falling into these categories in both years