Black Marriage Statistics

View black marriage statistics provided by the US Census Bureau. Data shows that over the last few decades marriage has been a declining institution among all Americans and this decline is even more evident in the Black community.

In 2019 only 30% of African Americans were married. This was compared to 48% of all Americans. Half or 50% of African Americans have never been married compared to 34% of all Americans.

Black Marriage

Marriage is defined as: the legally or formally recognized union of two people as partners in a personal relationship (historically and in some jurisdictions specifically a union between a man and a woman).

Marriage, also referred to as matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people. We refer to the participants as “spouses”. Marriage establishes rights and obligations between spouses. Certain rights and obligations resulting from marriage extend to the their children, and also to their in-laws. 

Black marriage refers specifically to the above description as it pertains to couples who are both members of the black population.

Fewer Black Women Married

Available data reveals that although fewer black women are “now married”, more black women than Black men have been married at least once. This is because a higher percentage of Black women are divorced and widowed than men. Also, in 2019, just under half or 48% of black women had never been married which is up from 44% in 2008 and 42.7% in 2005.

48% of Black Women Never Married

The fact that 48% of black women had never been married, according to the statistics, opens the door for debate. Why is that number so large? The two schools of thought in that area are; there are less suitable men to marry and that there is a lower desire for marriage among black women. The truth is probably a mixture of the two depending on how one defines the word “suitable”.

View these and more statistics about marriage here.