While marriage rates have continued to decline in the United States, the number of unmarried couples sharing their homes has been growing. According to the survey, there were roughly 18 million unmarried couples cohabiting in 2016.
Surprisingly, nearly a quarter of those are Americans ages 50 and older.
"Roughly half of cohabiters – those living with an unmarried partner – are younger than 35. But an increasing number of Americans ages 50 and older are in cohabiting relationships, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of the Current Population Survey,” Pew reports. “In fact, cohabiters ages 50 and older represented about a quarter (23 percent) of all cohabiting adults in 2016."
"Since 2007, the number of cohabiting adults ages 50 and older grew by 75 percent. This increase is faster than that of other age groups during this time period and is driven in part by the aging of Baby Boomers. In 2016, 4 million adults ages 50 and older were cohabiting – up from 2.3 million in 2007. By comparison, 8.9 million adults ages 18 to 34 were cohabiting last year, up from 7.2 million."
The survey found that these numbers coincide with the rising divorce rate in that age group. They found that most of the cohabitors in the 50 plus group have previously been married, with 55 percent of them divorcees. Just 13 percent are widowed, though that rises to 27 percent when looking at cohabitors in the 65 and older group.
“Still, about one-fourth of cohabiters (27 percent) ages 50 and older have never been married,” Pew found.
