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MARITAL STATUS OF THE AGED
Several interesting features are revealed in the data for marital status of the aged population in 2000. The proportion of widowed persons and the proportion of married persons (including separated and other) display an inverse relationship among the cohorts. This is to be expected; there is higher mortality in older cohorts, hence more widowed and less married individuals. The proportion of each cohort that is divorced is greater in younger cohorts; the likely cause is the increased societal acceptance of divorce in more recent years (i.e., among younger individuals). The relatively static percentage of individuals classified as never married suggests that there is an age (presumably less than 65 to 74, the lowest age cohort in these data) after which single persons tend not to marry.
Caution should be taken not to interpret the chart as showing changes in a single cohort over time. This data is for the year 2000 only; the cohorts represented here are distinct. The number of married persons over 85 is not a decrease from the number of married persons aged 75 to 84, but the proportion of married people over 85 was less than the proportion of married people aged 75-84 in 2000 only.
| Marital Status of the Aged by Age Group, 2000 | ||||||
| 65 to 74 | 75 to 84 | 85+ | ||||
| Number | Percent | Number | Percent | Number | Percent | |
| Total Population 65+ | 18,501,149 | 100.00% | 12,317,262 | 100.00% | 4,160,561 | 100.00% |
| Never Married | 798,277 | 4.31% | 519,442 | 4.22% | 204,122 | 4.91% |
| Male | 385,066 | 2.08% | 196,599 | 1.60% | 51,400 | 1.24% |
| Female | 413,211 | 2.23% | 322,843 | 2.62% | 152,722 | 3.67% |
| Married and Living with Spouse | 11,503,794 | 62.18% | 5,530,099 | 44.90% | 796,637 | 19.15% |
| Male | 6,255,164 | 33.81% | 3,247,821 | 26.37% | 546,194 | 13.13% |
| Female | 5,248,630 | 28.37% | 2,282,278 | 18.53% | 250,443 | 6.02% |
| Separated | 248,559 | 1.34% | 95,508 | 0.78% | 25,157 | 0.60% |
| Male | 119,346 | 0.65% | 45,778 | 0.37% | 9,342 | 0.22% |
| Female | 129,213 | 0.70% | 49,730 | 0.40% | 15,815 | 0.38% |
| Other* | 411,023 | 2.22% | 540,571 | 4.39% | 454,332 | 10.92% |
| Male | 207,860 | 1.12% | 221,566 | 1.80% | 131,593 | 3.16% |
| Female | 203,163 | 1.10% | 319,005 | 2.59% | 322,739 | 7.76% |
| Widowed | 3,824,527 | 20.67% | 4,965,484 | 40.31% | 2,542,306 | 61.10% |
| Male | 696,981 | 3.77% | 877,008 | 7.12% | 425,198 | 10.22% |
| Female | 3,127,546 | 16.90% | 4,088,476 | 33.19% | 2,117,108 | 50.89% |
| Divorced | 1,714,969 | 9.27% | 666,158 | 5.41% | 138,007 | 3.32% |
| Male | 691,158 | 3.74% | 234,647 | 1.91% | 39,649 | 0.95% |
| Female | 1,023,811 | 5.53% | 431,511 | 3.50% | 98,358 | 2.36% |
* The category "Other" includes individuals who are married but not living with their spouse for reasons other than separation.
Source: Census 2000 analyzed by the Social Science Data Analysis Network (SSDAN).
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