Population update for April - 1997

American Demographics, April, 1997 by Berna Miller

April generally marks the start of the spring/summer marriage boom. In April 1996, the marriage rate rose to 8.1 per 1,000 population. The U.S. had 53.9 million married couples in 1995, 2.2 million of whom got married that year. The nation also had 5.4 million cohabiting couples in 1995, according to the Census Bureau.the majority, 3.7 million, are couples of the opposite sex who presumably could marry. Another 1.8 million are same-sex couples who don't have that option.

Two-thirds of opposite-sex cohabiting couples have at least one partner under age 35. Most have never been married, although a good number are divorced. Slightly more than one-third have children. Same-sex cohabiting couples are also young; seven in ten have one partner under age 35. The vast majority of same-sex cohabitors have never been married, either, but they're less likely to have children.