One By One

In 1976, 37.4 percent of Americans age 16 and older were single; by 2014, that number had jumped to 50.2 percent. But what, exactly, qualifies as "single"? Does it mean "unattached," or does it simply mean "unmarried"? In other words, does someone who lives with a partner qualify as "single"? "Once you recognize that the two-parent, two-kid family that married at 22 and are together till the end of their lives is a rarity these days, everything else seems less unusual,” says Hugh Ryan, who considers himself single even though he recently bought a house with, and shares it with, two other men. However it's defined, singledom seems to be booming. "Almost half of new births are to unmarried mothers," according to this article. "The number of parents living together but not married has tripled. And the number of American adults who have never been married is at a historic high, around 20 percent." It's a trend that shows no signs of slowing or reversing itself, and perhaps the question to ask here is, Is there any reason it should?: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2015/0614/Singles-nation-Why-so-many-Americans-are-unmarried