By the Numbers Number of Weddings in the US Dropping
For the past several years many industry leaders have said we should expect large increases in the number of couples getting married due to the ECHO Boom generation. However, the CDC finally released 2009 provisional data which shows the number of weddings in the US dropping to 1968 levels. It is true that we have the largest birth population ever mov- ing into the average marriage age, but they are not getting married as expected.
In 1968, the United States recorded 2,069,000 mar- riages. This was the first time ever that we had more than 2 million marriages. It increased each year until we reached a peak of 2,477,000 marriages in 1984. Unfortunately, it has declined ever since. For 2009, the CDC reported 2,077,000 marriages, a 3.7% de- cline over 2008. The chart to the right shows the number of weddings since 1945 in the US.
So, where are all the ECHO Boom generation mar- riages? It is a complex issue that I believe involves many different factors. An annual research study “The National Marriage Project by the University of Virginia” points us to some interesting variables.
One of the most interesting variables in this study is the rate of marriage among unmarried women age 15 and greater. In 1985 (one of our highest years of marriage) 56/1,000 unmarried women were getting married. In 2008, only 37/1,000. I like their explana- tion of this calculation and how it reduces the issue of population changes alone. It makes more sense and it better reflects what is happening today.
WedBiz Journal
Shane McMurray, CEO/Founder of the Wedding Report brings us the industry’s latest statistics
What other factors are playing into the decline? Maybe it is the economy? It is certainly a factor. I have looked at all the recessions all the way back to the great depression and with each recession, there was a decline of 1-2% and about one (1) year after the recession there was a 1-2% increase. However, during previous recessions, more than 10 years ago, the family unit was much different than today and I believe we will not see the same bump as we did be- fore.
The more important factors today include the aver- age marriage age—in 1960, 20 for the bride and 23 for the groom, now 27 and 29, but getting closer to
Source, Number of Marriages:
- Tejada-Vera B, Sutton PD. Births, marriages, divorces, and deaths: Provisional data for 2009. National vital statistics reports; vol 58, no 25. Hyattsville, MD: Na- tional Center for Health Statistics. 2010.
- US Census Bureau February 2011
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31