According to the CDC, marriage rates and divorce rates have decreased while life expectancy continues to rise in the United States.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published statistics which show that marriage and divorce rates have decreased, but life expectancy has increased.

The CDC tracks these statistics through its National Vital Statistics System which shows Americans are getting married less often and divorcing less often while their life expectancy continues to rise.

The National Vital Statistics System operated by the CDC shows that American marriage rates reached one of their lowest levels since 2000 when they reached 6.1 per 1,000 people in 2023. The divorce rate also decreased to 2.4 per 1,000 people in 2023. Both marriage and divorce rates have shown a continuous decline over the past 20 years, according to 2024 CDC data.

The marriage rate per 1,000 people was at 8.2 in 2000 before entering its decline. The divorce rate followed the same declining trend sitting at 4.0 per 1,000 people in 2000 before slowly dropping. The divorce rate decreased by nearly half between 2000 and 2023.

The number of young people getting married continues to decline.

In 2020, the marriage rate dropped to a crazy 5.1 per 1,000 people. This is, of course, likely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Those rates returned to pre-pandemic levels by 2022 and hopefully don’t go back down.

While the marriage rate is going down, so is the divorce rate. So, there are not many people getting married right now, but more people are staying married.

Men tend to get married at an older age, while women get married younger. Both men and women’s average ages at their first marriage steadily increased from 2008-2016, according to a survey done by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2021.

So, why are all these things happening the way they are?

Whether it’s a cultural or financial thing, it needs to change before it impacts the social wellbeing of the country.

This can impact child poverty, as it leads to more children living in single-parent households. Which then puts a potential strain on the parent financially.

A chain reaction starts from there. Forcing the parent to rely on the government for their well-being, which then put a strain on the American taxpayers and their well-being.

All of it stems from something as simple as a marriage.