Marriage Rates & the Future of the Family

This guest post is offered by Kathleen E. Akers,* an economic consultant:

Just last month, the National Center for Health Statistics reported that marriage rates in the United States are at record lows. Recent statistics show “that adults in the United States are increasingly postponing marriage and that a record number of current youth and young adults are projected to forego marriage altogether.” 

Since 1900, marriage rates peaked at a rate of 16.4 (per 1,000 population) and have fluctuated in an overall decline since then, reaching a minimum of just 6.5 from 2017 to 2018.

United States marriage rate, 1900-2018
^{Rate per 1,000 population    Source: CDC/NCHS,National Vital Statistics System}

While this study does not explicitly say that a declining marriage rate could have negative societal consequences, the National Center for Health Statistics goes so far as to say, “Marriage has been shown to be correlated with positive health outcomes and longevity, and a recent report showed that age-adjusted death rates for both males and females are lowest for those who were married at the time of death.”

Such positive benefits of marriage, and potential negative effects of declining marriage rates and dissolving marriages, were discussed in our recent article found in the University of Baltimore Law Review journal, titled “Solving the Millennial Marriage Evolution.” In that paper, we discuss how economic and legal marriage incentives have changed for the millennial generation. We also suggest certain explanations (or marital disincentives) for the declining marriage rate, including evolving social trends, increased cohabitation rates, higher unemployment for marriageable men, and even new levels of egocentricity in millennials. Furthermore, we discuss the extensive and well-evidenced societal benefits of marriage, which should make these declining marriage rates all the more concerning.

Marriage is a foundational pillar of society that should be treasured and incentivized by individuals and policy makers for current and future generations.  It is truly the heart of family restoration.

 

*Kathleen E. Akers is also coauthor of Law and Economics in Jane Austen (Lexington 2019). 

Law and Economics in Jane Austen traces principles of law and economics in sex, marriage and romance as set out in the novels of Jane Austen, unveiling how those meticulous principles still control today’s modern romance. Learn fascinating new insights into law and economics by seeing these disciplines through Jane Austen’s eyes. Uncovering the legal and economic principles that drove her stories, readers discover that love and money are constants in social connection. While culture may have changed over 300 years, principles of law and economics remain staples of modern romance – which is why Jane Austen continues to fascinate the modern mind.