Statistics Show Single Adults Now Outnumber Married Adults in the United States
And yet most American Christians either keep ignoring single adults or behaving as though it’s still 1954 and everyone is married with a kid at home. And they actually wonder why they are losing members in their churches and denominations?
It is no longer the “norm” to be married in the United States. The Christian paradigm that God supposedly “calls most people to marriage and not singleness because adult singleness is rare” is FALSE in American culture. FALSE FALSE FALSE.
The Bible never said that “marriage is the norm” or that God calls few to singleness, – those were merely ASSUMPTIONS preachers kept making for decades.
If I were to argue like most preachers and conservative Christians, I would say:
Now that the MAJORITY of the population is SINGLE, that obviously means “God calls most to singleness, and the “gift of marriage” is RARE.”
(Link): Statistics show more Americans are single than married
SEPTEMBER 9, 2014, BY HANNAH WARD
Single Americans make up more than half of the adult population for the first time since the government began keeping track of those statistics in 1976.In total, 124.6 million Americans were single in August–50.2 percent of those singles were 16 years or older, according to data used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in its monthly job-market report. That percentage had been hovering just below 50 percent since around the beginning of 2013 before edging above it in July and August.
In 1976, singles accounted for 37.4 percent and has been trending upward since.
(Link): Single adults now outnumber married adults
by David Li
Sept 9, 2014
It’s official — we’ve become the United Singles of America!
Unmarried American adults outnumber their married counterparts for the first time since the federal government began tracking that data in 1976, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
There were 124.6 million single Americans in August, accounting for 50.2 percent of the 16-and-over US population, BLS data showed.
That number has been hovering just below the 50 percent mark since 2013, before finally getting over the majority hurdle this summer.
Back in 1976, the unmarried crowd accounted for 37.4 percent of the adult population and it’s been trending upward ever since.
Unmarried adults split about 3-to-2 in favor of those who have never walked down the aisle (30.4 percent) compared to divorcees, widows and widowers (19.8 percent). In 1976, those figures were closer at 22.1 percent and 15.3 percent, respectively.
(Link): Single Americans now more than half adult US population
Sept 10, 2014
Washington: Single Americans make up more than half of the adult US population for the first time since the government began compiling such statistics in 1976.
Some 124.6 million Americans were single in August, 50.2 per cent of those who were 16 years or older, according to data used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in its monthly job-market report. That percentage had been hovering just below 50 per cent since about the beginning of 2013, before edging above it in July and August. In 1976, it was 37.4 per cent and has been trending upward since.
In a report to clients entitled Selfies, economist Edward Yardeni flagged the increase in the proportion of singles to more than 50 per cent, calling it “remarkable”. The president of Yardeni Research in New York said the rise has “implications for our economy, society and politics”.
Singles, particularly younger ones, are more likely to rent than to own their dwellings. Never-married young singles are less likely to have children and previously married older ones, many of whom have adult children, are unlikely to have young kids, Mr Yardeni wrote. That will influence how much money they spend and what they buy.
(Link): Single Americans become majority for first time
More people in the United States are apparently leaving wedding rings sitting in jewelry stores, as new data shows a majority of American adults are now single.
Specifically, about 50.2 percent of American adults over the age of 16 – roughly 124.6 million people – were single in August, according to a new Bureau of Labor Statistics report cited by Bloomberg. This marks the first time that single Americans make up the majority of the adult population since the government began tracking the data 38 years ago.
In 1976, single Americans made up 37.4 percent of the adult population. The number of individuals who have never been married also rose to 30.4 percent, up notably from 22.1 more than three decades ago. Divorced Americans, meanwhile, now compose 19.8 percent of the population, compared to 15.3 percent in 1976.
(Link): For First Time, More Singles In U.S. Than Married Couples
By John Dodge
CHICAGO (CBS) — For the first time, there are more single people in the United States and married people, according to a new research report.
The government first began gathering information on marital status in 1976, when 37.4 percent of the population was single, which included those who were never married and divorced,
A report by financial researcher Ed Yardeni found that in August singles for the first time topped 50 percent of the population 16 and older.
Of the 248.2 million people in the U.S. who are 16 and older, 124,6 are single, compared with 123.6 who are married.
Related posts:
(Link): Fewer Americans See Their Romantic Partners As a Source of Life’s Meaning
(Link): Four in 10 Adults Between the Ages of 25 and 54 are Single, Up From 29% in 1990
(Link): Nearly 4 in 10 American Adults Live Without Spouse or Partner As Single Population Grows: Pew
(Link): False Christian Teaching: “Only A Few Are Called to Singleness and Celibacy”
(Link): Pew for One: How Is the Church Responding to Growing Number of Singles? by S. Hamaker
(Link): Single Adults – Why They Stay and Why They Stray From Church – Book Excerpts
(Link): Singles Shaming at The Vintage church in Raleigh – Singlehood Shaming / Celibate Shaming
(Link): Is Singleness A Sin? by Camerin Courtney
(Link): ‘Why Are You Single’ Lists That Do Not Pathologize Singles by Bella DePaulo
(Link): The Obligatory, “Oh, but if you’re single you can still benefit from my marriage sermon” line
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