The bar charts illustrate information about the marriage and divorce rates, as well as the marital status of adult Americans in 1970 and 2000. Over these three decades, there was a noticeable downward trend in the number of marriages. Additionally, the most common marital status in both years was being married.
In 1970, 2.5 million people were married. This number declined slightly each year until it reached its lowest point of 2 million couples in 2000. In contrast, the number of divorces was 1 million in 1970, rising to nearly 1.5 million in 1980. Over the next 20 years, the number of divorces returned to 1 million.
The second chart shows four categories: never married, married, widowed, and divorced. The proportion of married individuals was the highest among these categories, accounting for 70% in 1970 and 60% in 2000. The percentage of individuals who never married increased from 15% in 1970 to 20% in 2000. The proportions of widowed and divorced individuals both remained under 10% throughout the period.