The bar graph illustrates data on rates of marriages and divorces in the United States from 1970 to 2000 and the general marital status of the population in the same time frame.
Overall, the marriage rates have come down over the years while the divorce rates seem to have increased.
The rate of weddings in 1970 was 2.5 million, which fell slowly over the decades and reached a rate of 2 million by the year 2000. The trend with divorce rates was a little different, though significantly lower than weddings. They initially increased, reaching a peak in the 80s, from which point they continued to decrease by 2000.
A major chunk of the grown-up population seems to be married with 70% of the population contributing to the statistic in 1970, which is 10 percentage points higher than in 2000. However, the separation rates seem to be on the higher side in 2000 as compared to 1970, with the numbers being 10% and 1% respectively. Over the 30-year period, marriages seemed to have prevailed and even though the divorces have increased over the years, they still didn’t make up most of the population.