Youth Indicators 1996 / Indicator 3, Chart 1
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Statistical Abstract of the United States, various years; Historical Statistics of the United States to 1975; and Current Population Reports, Series P-20, Household and Family Characteristics, no. 349. U.S Department of Health and Human Services, National Center for Health Statistics, Monthly Vital Statistics Report, various years; and Vital Statistics of the United States, various years.
People are getting married less and later. Between 1960 and 1993, marriage rates for 15- to 44-year-old women dropped by 41 percent. The average age for a woman at her first marriage rose from 20 in 1960 to 25 in 1993. Most of the increase occurred after 1970 and has continued through the most recent year. Young men, too, married later. The average age for first-time grooms rose from 24 in 1975 to 27 in 1992.
