Is Marriage Becoming Obsolete ?

There's been a lot of talk recently from the right-wing fundamentalists about the "sanctity of marriage". Although for them they use this term to try and justify their excluding gays/lesbians from getting married, they go further and say that marriage is one of the basic building blocks of our society, and without marriage the society would crumble -- and even many moderates and left-wingers share this view. For them, marriage is the ultimate goal of a loving relationship.

Is that really true? Statistics don't seem to back up that view. In fact, for many years the percentage of Americans who are married has been decreasing (and is now at a record low), and the number of people who don't believe in the institution of marriage has been increasing. Consider the following numbers from a new survey by the Pew Research Center:


MARITAL STATUS (PERCENTAGE OF POPULATION)

1960
Married...............72%
Divorced...............5%
Widowed...............9%
Never married...............15%

2010
Married...............51%
Divorced...............14%
Widowed...............6%
Never married...............28%

MEDIAN AGE AT FIRST MARRIAGE

1960
Men...............22.8
Women...............20.3

2010
Men...............28.7
Women...............26.5

PERCENTAGE BELIEVING MARRIAGE BECOMING OBSOLETE

General public...............39%

18-29...............44%
30-49...............41%
50-64...............34%
65+...............32%

White...............36%
Hispanic...............42%
African-American...............44%

College grad...............27%
Some college...............41%
High school or less...............44%

These numbers don't look good for the institution of marriage. The percentage of the total population that is married dropped from 72% to only 51% in the last 50 years. At that rate, the percentage of Americans who are married will drop below the 50% mark in just another 4-5 years. And nearly four out of every ten Americans (39%) believe the institution of marriage is becoming obsolete, while that figure was less than three out of ten back in the 1970s (28%).

The truth is that before 1960 most Americans felt they needed to be married to feel happy and complete their lives. Now more and more Americans are finding they can live a fulfilled life without marriage (even though many share their lives with a "significant other"). Society has changed, and continues to do so -- and among the changes is the public's view of marriage.

Is marriage obsolete? No, but it seems to be well on its way to becoming so. Personally, I think that may be a good thing. What do you think?