Marriage rates have risen in the years since the start of the COVID pandemic, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
On Friday, the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics released data showing that marriages in the U.S. have been on the rise since the pandemic halted many weddings in 2020. According to the data, the number of marriages jumped from 5.1 per 1,000 people in 2020 to 6.2 by 2022, the highest rate recorded since 2018.
This marks a slight recovery in the marriage rate, the organization said – over the past 20 years, there have been about seven to eight marriages per capita in the US per year. It also marks a 4% increase over 2021.
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The number also varied significantly from state to state. According to the report, 36 states found that their marriage rates in 2022 were the same or higher than before the 2019 pandemic, and 12 states saw a decline in marriage.
In addition, the data revealed which five states had the highest marriage rates in 2022. At No. 5, Arkansas recorded a rate of 7.9 per capita. Utah and Montana are in fourth place with 9.9 per capita, followed by Hawaii with 14.4 per capita. Nevada maintained its spot as the No. 1 state for marriages at 25.9 per 1,000 people.
In total, there were more than 2,065,000 marriages in 2022, the first time the US has reached 2 million since 2019.
In addition, new data shows that the divorce rate is falling.
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As part of what the CDC called a “prolonged downward trend” over the past two decades, divorce rates for married couples in the U.S. fell to just over 675,000, or 2.4 per capita in 2022 — though the latest low rate was in 2020, when the divorce rate was 2.3 per capita. (The CDC excluded California, Hawaii, Indiana, Minnesota, and New Mexico from the national data.)
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According to family therapist Ian Kerner, this increase in the number of married couples in the US could potentially have several different causes.
“In my practice over the last decade,” Kerner told CNN, “I’ve noticed a gradual shift from ‘romantic marriage’ to ‘social marriage,’ meaning that people are increasingly choosing spouses who are best friends at the beginning rather than passionate partners. ”
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education