Americans are less inclined to get married than at any time in US history, posing social and public-policy dilemmas and the threatening to dissolve the "glue" that connects fathers to their children, experts say. A report released by the US National Marriage Project found "a rather weakening of the institution of marriage" in America. The researchers said the prefix = st1 /USmarriage rate has never been lower, births to unmarried women have skyrocketed, the divorce rate remains high and Americans' marriages are less happy than in the past. "There is no known society that has got along without marriage and has done a decent job in rearing and sponsoring the next generation," said Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, US National Marriage Project co-director. The crumbling of the institution of marriage should not be viewed as a kind social trend with no costs to society at large, added the project's other co-director, David Popenoe. US government statistics cited in the Rutgers report detail a crisis in marriage whose origins can be traced back about 40 years. The report, citing census data ,said the marriage rate has quickly reduced by a third since 1960. It said there were about 73 marriages per 1,000 unmarried women aged 15 and up in 1960. In 1996, the last year for which such figures were available, the rate was about 49 per 1,000. Popenoe said the USmarriage rate now has dropped below a previous historic low recorded at the turn of the century. He said several factors have something to do with the trend. One is that Americans are delaying marriage until they are older. In 1960, the median age for first marriages was 20 for women and 23 for men. In 1997, with many college-educated Americans delaying marriage until their 30s, the median age rose to 25 for women and 27 for men, the report said. "The later the marriage, by and large, the lower the (overall) marriage rate in the long run. In other words, people delay too long and then they decide not to marry after a while," Popenoe said. In addition, many American women, particularly black women, are giving birth and raising children without getting married. In 1960,5.3 percent of all USbabies were born to unwed mothers, according to government statistics. In 1997,32 percent of all babies were born to unmarried women-and a startling 69 percent of black babies had unwed mothers. The percentage of USchildren living without their father present also has ballooned. In 1960, nine percent of children lived in a single-parent household. Last year, 28 percent of all children and 55 percent of all black children lived with a single parent. Children in single-parent households overwhelmingly live with their mothers, with fathers absent. Which of the following can NOT be inferred from the figures provided in the passage?
In the United States, more couples are experiencing marital crises than there used to be in the 1970s. The later the first marriage, the happier the marriage will be. More and more people are giving birth to children without getting married. More children are living in a single-parent household than there used to be.