Something Extra: Love And Marriage

MIAMI (CBS4) - For better or worse, America is really changing when it comes to marriage.

The most surprising headline from the CDC study: nearly forty per cent of women have never been married by age forty four. And the ones who are getting married are getting married later.

The median age for a first marriage has gone up to 25.8 for women and 28.3for men.

Also surprising? The percentage of women in their first marriages plunged from 44 percent thirty years ago to 36 per cent.

Delaying marriage is part of it, so is the fact that the number of people living together has quadrupled. It's not because of an increase in the divorce rate. One in two marriages still ends before a twentieth anniversary.

Education is a huge factor in marriage success. Seventy eight per cent of women college grads were still married after twenty years. That's double the rate of women who didn't finish high school. The numbers were roughly the same for men.

Ethnicity also plays a big part: Asian and Hispanic women were most likely to have enduring marriages.

If you'd like to see this fascinating snapshot of marriage in America, you can find the full study by clicking here.