ATM:n avioliitoton tulevaisuus

Facing Middle Age With No Degree, and No Wife (vaatii rekisteröitymisen).

About 18 percent of men ages 40 to 44 with less than four years of college have never married, according to census estimates. That is up from about 6 percent a quarter-century ago. Among similar men ages 35 to 39, the portion jumped to 22 percent from 8 percent in that time.

At virtually every level of education, fewer Americans are marrying. But the decline is most pronounced among men with less education. Even marriage rates among female professionals over 40 have stabilized in recent years. The decline in marriage can be traced to many factors, experts say, including the greater economic independence of women and the greater acceptance of couples living together outside of marriage. For men without higher education, though, dwindling prospects in the labor market have made a growing percentage either unwilling to marry or unable to find someone to marry them.

Perhaps most significant, many men without college degrees are not marrying because the pool of women in their social circles ? those without college degrees ? has shrunk. And the dwindling pool of women in this category often look for a mate with more education and hence better financial prospects.

As women started climbing the educational ladder, first equaling and then surpassing men in college attendance and graduation rates, the pool of potential partners shrank.

There has been a deterioration in young men?s economic position, and women are hesitant to marry a man who is likely to be an economic dependent.

Rauhanmarssi.