Half the U.S. women are living together with their partners instead of marrying them, according to the survey conducted by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CBS reported April 4.
They asked 12,279 women aged between 15 and 44 about the state of being married. Almost half _ 48 percent _ of the surveyed said they were not married but living together with someone.
The percentage of the women living together with someone is on the rise, whereas that of women marring the partner is in decline.
The former’s rate being 48 percent recently, 43 percent in 2002, 35 percent in 1995; the latter’s rate being 23 percent recently, 30 percent in 2002, 39 percent in 1995.
Casey Copen, an official from the center, said, ”The longer the couple live together, the more likely it is that the woman gets pregnant, according to our findings.”
Marriage is not necessarily a must to some women. The percentage of women getting married if they get pregnant during the cohabitation was dropping.
Andrew Cherlin, a professor at Johns Hopkins University, said, ”Compared to the rich countries, there are fewer cases of couples living together in the U.S., but it’s increasing for sure.”
The average age of people getting married is getting older, resulting in many babies born out of the wedlock.
Forty-eight percent of the newborns are born that way, according to the Research and Analysis on the Health of Marriage and Family in America published by University of Virginia.
The age of women getting married was 26.5, three years older than 1990’s 23, it said.