The bar charts — select —illustratecalculate the marriage and divorce — select —figuresrates in the USA over a 30-year period and the marital status of adult US citizens in 1970 and 2000.

Overall, while the number of marriages — select —decreasedincreased, the figure for divorces remained fairly stable. In addition, a — select —majorityminority of adult Americans were married in both of the years surveyed.

In 1970, there were — select —2.5 million1 million couples who registered their marriages in the US while around 1 million got divorced. In 1980, the number of marriages stayed the same whereas that of divorces — select —peakedplummeted at just under 1.5 million cases. From then on, the marriage rate continued to — select —declinesoar before finishing at 2 million in 2000.

In 1970, the marital status of about — select —70%60% of adult Americans was married, yet this figure decreased by 10% in 2000. By contrast, there was a slight growth in the — select —percentagenumber of those who never married as well as a — select —threefoldtwofold increase in the proportion of divorcees, from roughly 3% in 1970 to 9% in 2000.