Is Marriage Becoming Irrelevant?

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans are less inclined now than in recent years to see marriage as critical for couples who have children together or for couples who plan to spend the rest of their lives together. Most U.S. adults have been married at some point in their lives, but those figures are declining. Still, the vast majority of adults who have never been married remain interested in getting married someday.

Americans See Marriage as Less Important for Couples With Children Together

Fewer U.S. adults now than in past years believe it is "very important" for couples who have children together to be married. Currently, 29% say it is very important that such a couple legally marry, down from 38% who held this view in 2013 and 49% in 2006.

Another 31% of U.S. adults currently say it is "somewhat important" for couples with children to be married, bringing the total to 60% who consider it important to some degree. Meanwhile, four in 10 say it is not too (18%) or not at all (22%) important.

In 2006, Americans were more than twice as likely to say it is very important (49%) for couples with children to wed as to say it is not important (23%).

The latest results are based on Gallup's annual Values and Beliefs poll, conducted May 1-13. The poll updated several trends on Americans' views about marriage asked previously over the past two decades.

The trends are consistent with Americans' evolving views of marriage. Sixty-six percent now believe it is morally acceptable to have a baby outside of marriage, an increase from 53% the first year the question was asked in 2001. Seventy-two percent, up from 53% in 2001, consider sex between an unmarried man and woman morally acceptable.

Most key subgroups are less likely now than in 2013, and all are less likely than in 2006, to view it as critical that couples with children together legally marry. Political liberals and young adults are two groups whose opinions have not changed appreciably in the past seven years.

	2006	2013	2020	Change, 2006-2020
	%	%	%	pct. pts.
Men	53	37	29	-24
Women	45	39	28	-17
18-34 years old	30	22	22	-8
35-54 years old	49	35	23	-26
55+ years old	63	53	38	-25
White adults	45	37	27	-18
Non-White adults	57	41	33	-24
College graduate	41	31	25	-16
Not college graduate	51	41	31	-20
Conservative	62	55	41	-21
Moderate	42	33	22	-20
Liberal	30	18	21	-9
Republican	62	49	36	-26
Independent	42	35	29	-13
Democrat	42	33	18	-24
Married	55	44	33	-22
Not married	39	31	25	-14
Children under 18	48	32	30	-18
No children under 18	48	41	27	-21
Attend church weekly	65	58	45	-20
Attend church monthly	58	41	32	-26
Seldom/Never attend	32	24	19	-13
Gallup

Frequent church attendees (45%), political conservatives (41%) and Americans aged 55 and older (38%) and are among the groups most likely to believe marriage is crucial for parents. Democrats (18%), those who seldom or never attend church (19%), political liberals (21%) and moderates (22%), and adults under age 55 (23%) are among the groups least likely to regard marriage as being very important for such couples.

Parents of minor children (30%) are not significantly more likely than nonparents (27%) to view marriage as critical. Those who are currently married (33%) are slightly more likely than those who are not married (25%) to say it is important, though the current eight-percentage-point gap between these two groups has narrowed from 16 points in 2006.

Americans More Inclined to See Marriage as Critical for Life Partners

A separate question in the survey finds Americans are more likely to believe it is very important for couples to marry if they plan to spend the rest of their lives together (38%) than if they have a child together. Twenty-six percent think it is somewhat important for couples who plan to spend their lives together to get married, while 15% say it is not too important and 21% say it is not important at all.

As with the decline in public insistence that couples with children marry, fewer today than in the recent past say it is important that committed couples marry. The current 38% who say it is very important for couples to marry if they plan to live together the rest of their lives is down slightly from 43% in 2013 and more substantially from 54% in 2006.

Religiosity and political ideology are the strongest predictors of the importance people attach to couples marrying when they want to spend their lives together.

• Sixty-seven percent of weekly church attendees regard marriage as very important for couples who want to spend their lives together, compared with 22% of those who rarely or never attend church.

• Fifty-five percent of conservatives versus 23% of liberals believe it is very important that such couples wed.

There are also significant differences by age, partisanship, race and education. Older Americans, Republicans, non-White adults and college nongraduates place more importance on marriage for couples who want to live together than do younger Americans, Democrats, White adults and college graduates.

All key subgroups are less likely now than in 2006 to believe it is very important for couples to marry if they plan to live together the rest of their lives.

	2006	2013	2020	Change, 2006-2020
	%	%	%	pct. pts.
Men	56	43	39	-17
Women	53	43	38	-15
18-34 years old	50	34	29	-21
35-54 years old	46	41	40	-6
55+ years old	67	54	43	-24
White adults	51	41	34	-17
Non-White adults	63	50	48	-15
College graduate	38	32	31	-7
Not college graduate	62	48	42	-20
Conservative	74	63	55	-19
Moderate	47	37	34	-13
Liberal	31	22	23	-8
Republican	73	56	51	-22
Independent	49	38	36	-13
Democrat	45	39	27	-18
Married	60	49	43	-17
Not married	45	37	33	-12
Children under 18	56	40	43	-13
No children under 18	54	45	36	-18
Attend church weekly	82	68	67	-15
Attend church monthly	62	50	46	-16
Seldom/Never attend	33	26	22	-11
Gallup

Desire for Marriage Still Strong; Most Have Been Married

The lesser importance Americans place today on being married is borne out to some degree in the trends in marriage rates. The poll finds that most Americans (69%) have been married at some point in their lives -- encompassing those currently married, divorced or widowed. While this rate is similar to the 72% found in 2013 when the question was last asked, it is down from 80% in 2006.

In terms of those currently married, 49% report this today, also down from 55% in 2006.

The percentage of those currently married has shown greater decline when compared with historical Gallup trends. Between 1978 and 1983, a consistent 64% of Gallup poll respondents reported being married. The percentage fell below 60% in the mid-1990s and has been below 50% since 2015.

Much of that decline in the marriage rate in the past four decades is accounted for by the 8% who say they are unmarried but living with a partner -- a category not included in Gallup surveys prior to 1999. The percentage who report being divorced has also doubled, from 5% in the late 1970s and early 1980s, to 10% since 2015, while the percentage who say they are single or never married has increased modestly from 20% to 22%.

Despite this slide in marital rates, the vast majority of U.S. adults who have not been married -- 81% -- say they would like to get married someday. This is essentially unchanged from 78% when the question was last asked, in 2013.

Therefore, while people may think it is less important for couples to marry regardless of the situation, it is still a choice most people make, or hope to make, for themselves.

Bottom Line

Americans' attitudes about marriage continue to evolve, with fewer saying it is important for couples to marry if they have children together or if they want to spend the rest of their lives together. These trends are consistent with changes in U.S. attitudes on a variety of moral values issues, which have moved in a less traditional direction over the past two decades. Solid majorities of Americans now view sex between an unmarried man and woman, same-sex relations, and having a baby outside of marriage as being morally acceptable.

While the marriage rate is declining, the desire of those who have never been married to get married someday remains high, with more than eight in 10 singles hoping to marry. Thus, their evolving attitudes about marriage may reflect increasing acceptance for how others lead their lives rather than a profound shift in their own lifestyle preferences.

View complete question responses and trends (PDF download).

Learn more about how the Gallup Poll Social Series works.