The charts compare marriage and divorce figures in the USA between 1970 and 2000 and show the marital status of adult Americans in 1970 and 2000.
Overall, the number of marriages declined over the period, while divorces rose at first and then fell slightly. In terms of marital status, a smaller proportion of adults were married in 2000 than in 1970, whereas the percentages of people who had never married or were divorced increased.
In 1970 and 1980 there were about 2.5 million marriages. After that, the figure dropped steadily to around 2.3 million in 1990 and approximately 2 million in 2000. By contrast, divorces climbed from roughly 1 million in 1970 to a peak of about 1.4 million in 1980, before declining to just over 1 million in 1990 and returning to around 1 million at the end of the period.
Regarding marital status, about 70% of adults were married in 1970, but this fell to around 60% in 2000. The proportion of people who had never married rose from roughly 15% to about 20%. The percentage of widowed individuals decreased slightly, from around 8% to about 6%. Meanwhile, the figure for divorced adults increased markedly, from only about 2-3% in 1970 to nearly 8-9% in 2000