Why Does It Seem Like Everyone Is Married When There Are More Than 100 Million Single People?

The United States is increasingly becoming a nation of single people, with 103 million of them, or more than 44%, currently not married (i.e., divorced or widowed or have always been single).

Americans spend more years of their adult lives not married than married – something that has been true for years. Yet it doesn’t always seem like we are a nation of singles. One of the reasons for that is that we are such a matrimanical society, always celebrating marriage and coupling and throwing over-the-top weddings, that single people can seem invisible and single life inconsequential.