The U.S. Census Bureau has just released data estimating that, as of March 2002, more than 86 million adults in the United States were unmarried.  This compares with data from March 2000 which estimated that 82 million adults were unmarried.  Unmarried adults include people who are 18 years of age or older and who reported they were either never-married, divorced, or widowed.

The new marital status figures are contained in a report on educational attainment taken from the March 2002 Current Population Survey which is a joint production of the Bureau of the Census and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  The report and related data tables were released by the Census Bureau on March 21, 2003.

The staff at AASP has examined the tables, extracting the relevant marital status data, and comparing it with figures from the March 2000 Current Population Survey.

The comparison shows that the number of unmarried adults in the United States is increasing at a more rapid rate then the rise in the number of married adults.  In March of 2000, there were approximately 120.1 million adults who were married.  This increased to about 123.3 million in March of 2002, representing a 2.7 percent increase in two years.

In contrast, there were 81.7 million unmarried adults in March of 2000.  This number increased to nearly 86.2 million in March of 2002, which accounts for a 5.5 percent increase in two years -- double the rate of increase for married adults.

The 2001 Annual Supplemental Survey released by the Census Bureau last fall estimates that about 49.4 percent of the nation's households were headed by unmarried adults in 2001. 

Census Report: The Black Population in the United States
 

The U.S. Census Bureau has just released a report on "The Black Population in the United States."  The report is based on a Current Population Survey conducted in March 2002.  When the report was released last Friday, Census Bureau Director C. Louis Kincannon said, "This report is being released to coincide with the gathering in Houston this week of the nation's African-American mayors. It is the first look since Census 2000 at the demographic and socioeconomic state of blacks in America. We hope it will be the subject of much serious discussion by the mayors."

AASP has analyzed the data tables associated with this new report and compared them with similar tables for 1999 and 1996.  Our analysis shows that in 2002, 68.2% of Black households were headed by unmarried adults.  This compares with 68.4% unmarried households in 1999 and 67.9% unmarried households in 1996.