Nearly everyone knows that marriage rates are not what they used to be. Perhaps unsurprisingly, divorce rates are changing, too - but not in the way you might expect. While 83 percent of people born between 1928 and 1945 (dubbed “the Silent Generation”) were married by age 37, researchers predict that Gen Z - born between 1997 and 2012 - are marrying far less. While this cohort is still quite young, the expectation is that only 60 percent of white Gen Zers will be married by 40 years old, while black Gen Zers might reach levels as low as 23 percent. Why is this happening, and what does it mean for America?
Is There a Relationship Between Low Marriage and Divorce Rates?
Just as the Baby Boomers were married at much greater rates than younger generations, they have made headlines by pursuing divorce in staggering numbers. In recent years, more than 30 percent of divorces were made up of Baby Boomers going their separate ways.
Gen Z is not old enough to demonstrate what kind of divorce rates they are likely to have. But if we look at the preceding generation - the much-talked-about Millennials - their divorce rates are lower than their parents’. In fact, the Millenial divorce rate is the lowest in many years, hovering around 25 percent. While Millennials are less likely to get married and get married at older ages, most of them do still get married - and they tend to stay that way. Researchers speculate this is due in large part to a more careful partner selection process, as well as an innate wariness of divorce that Millenials learned from watching their own parents separate.
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