Americans both got married and sought divorces at a lower rate in 2020 as the coronavirus swept across the globe.
A study from Bowling Green State University’s Center for Family and Demographic Research obtained by Bloomberg found that the number of marriages in the U.S. last year totaled almost 340,000 less than researchers had previously projected based on marriage trends and data from past years.
In Florida, the largest state analyzed by researchers, the marriage rate was 33 percent lower than expected; other states in the study included New Hampshire, Arizona, Missouri and Oregon, which all showed similar trends.
Researchers hypothesized that the drop in marriages was likely due to the pandemic forcing many localities to implement restrictions on public gatherings, leading many to postpone their celebrations until 2021 or beyond.
The gap between the actual vs. expected number of divorces was also lower, just over 191,000, but also revealed that the pandemic is likely forcing many couples to stay together for practical reasons when they would otherwise seek separation, according to Bloomberg.
The trend in the U.S., at least among divorces, appears to be the opposite of that observed in China amid lockdown measures in that country, where divorces and reports of domestic abuse both surged during the pandemic.
Rates of divorces and marriages both have dropped over the past decade reportedly due to younger generations seeking marriages later in life than previous generations.