It isn’t much of a surprise that contemporary North American relationships are not what they use to be 50 years ago. In the past few decades, there have been notable changes in relationships; more specifically trends in marriage. Here are the top 5 marriage trends:

#1 Rates of Marriage is Declining

In general, the number of people heading to the alter is declining. People are seeking alternative relationships to the legal bonding in matrimony. Most commonly there is a trend for couples to enter a common-law relationship with no plans for marriage.

#2 Divorce Rates have Remained Steady

Since 2010, statistics have found that the divorce rate has not increased, but instead, maintained its 40% divorce rate of overall marriages.

As marriage rates decline and divorce rates remain the same, research has found that Common Law relationships have skyrocketed to equate for four times more than marriage rates as of 2014.

#3 Those Who Marry are Older

In North America, society places a high value on a post-secondary education. This encourages young adults to stay in school longer and delay entering the workforce. This delay is often a setback for financial stability, an aspiration many people want to achieve before starting a family. Due to this, the average age of marriage has increased, where female marries around age 26 and men around age 28.

#4 Married Couples are Having Fewer Children

It is true! As couples prioritize careers and are experiencing ever-increasing higher costs of living, the desire to have many children is declining. Especially in city areas, where the cost of living is at its highest and there is no survival need to establish a large family, married couples have few, if any, children.

#5 Marriage Counselling is on the Rise

To maintain a happy, strong relationship for the duration of a lifetime requires couples to continually adapt to one other. Individuals change physically, psychologically, and emotionally over the years and as a lifelong partner, it is your job to adapt and accommodate changes with each other. Since 2010, couples and marriage counselling has been increasing, suggesting couples are more inclined to work through relationship issues in order to adapt to their partner’s ongoing needs and changes.