Friday, August 19, 2011

Black Women's Marriage Rate of 75% Is Good News

About 75% of black women have married by 35. This is a higher marriage rate than is often reported, which is pretty good news.

For comparison, about 87% of white women have married by 40 (the closest comparison I have, which will not be way off the "by 35" rate).

The black divorce rate is higher than the white rate, so the long-term marriage gap is wider than these ever-married figures suggest.

Still the black marriage picture is better than the 58% rate one often reads. Ivory Toldson and Bryant Marks, the researchers responsible for these new numbers, note that black women marry later, on average, than white women do, so a comparison of marriage rates for younger women makes the gap look larger than it eventually will be.

1 comment:

Lisa99 said...

Hello! I've read this study, but wasn't sure where they got the 75% from. I looked at Census studies and the ones I saw put the black women's marriage rate at 60% by 35.

I find that to be a lot more concerning. I would like to see exactly where the 75% came from that the researchers state.