Bridget Jones was single, at one time.
At one point or another so were Dorothy, Sophia, Rose and Blanche; Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha; and Hannah, Marnie, Jessa and Shoshanna.
All of these well-known women of the big and small screens had the same relationship status that 42 percent of U.S. adults have now, according to a recent examination of census data by the Pew Research Center.
What Pew discovered is that the number of Americans who are “unpartnered,” meaning those living without a partner, has increased from 39 percent to 42 percent between 2007 (the first year the U.S. Census Bureau began collecting cohabitation data) and 2017.
It is interesting news for an industry that banks so heavily on love and marriage, and is just now starting to wake up to the potential of marketing to women who buy jewelry for themselves.
The sharpest increase in being single was among young adults, those 35 years old and under. That figure rose from 56 percent in 2007 to 61 percent in 2017.
The rise in the number of–to quote Ms. Jones–“singletons” was less marked among other age groups.
It rose from 29 percent to 30 percent among those ages 35 to 54, and from 29 percent to 32 percent in the 55- to 64-year-old age bracket.
And the number of single Americans actually fell among those ages 65 and up, making it more likely for older Americans (55+) to have a spouse or partner than younger adults.
So why are there more single people in the United States today?
