The United States has historically had higher rates of marriage than
those of other industrialized countries. The current annual marriage {{U}}
{{U}} 1 {{/U}} {{/U}}in the United States-about 9 new marriages for
every 1,000 people-is {{U}} {{U}} 2 {{/U}} {{/U}}higher than it
is in other industrialized countries. However, marriage is {{U}} {{U}}
3 {{/U}} {{/U}}as widespread as it was several decades ago. {{U}}
{{U}} 4 {{/U}} {{/U}}of American adults who are married {{U}}
{{U}} 5 {{/U}} {{/U}}from 72 percent in I970 to 60 percent in 2002.
This does not mean that large numbers of people will remain unmarried {{U}}
{{U}} 6 {{/U}} {{/U}}their lives. Throughout the 20th century, about
90 percent of Americans married at some {{U}} {{U}} 7 {{/U}}
{{/U}}in their lives. Experts {{U}} {{U}} 8 {{/U}} {{/U}}that
about the same proportion of today's young adults will eventually
marry. The timing of marriage has varied {{U}} {{U}}
9 {{/U}} {{/U}}over the past century. In 1995 the average age of women
in the United States at the time of their first marriage was 25. The average age
of men was about 27. Men and women in the United States marry for the first time
at an average of five years later than people did in the 1950s. {{U}}
{{U}} 10 {{/U}} {{/U}}, young adults of the 1950s married younger
than did any previous {{U}} {{U}} 11 {{/U}} {{/U}}in U.S.
history. Today's later age of marriage is {{U}} {{U}} 12
{{/U}} {{/U}}the age of marriage between 1890 and 1940. Moreover, a greater
proportion of the population was married (95 percent) during the 1950s than at
any time before {{U}} {{U}} 13 {{/U}} {{/U}}. Experts do not
agree on why the "marriage rush" of the late 1940s and 1950s occurred, but most
social scientists believe it represented a {{U}} {{U}} 14
{{/U}} {{/U}}to the return of peaceful life and prosperity after 15 years of
severe economic {{U}} {{U}} 15 {{/U}} {{/U}}and war.