Twenty-Somethings are the New Teens

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal highlights the fact that the incidences of teen pregnancy are declining in the country and that today's unmarried 20-somethings are the new "teen" moms.  America's all-time high level of non-marital childbearing is now being driven by 20-somethings, consisting of 41% of all births.  A delay in "tying the knot" has risen steadily according to Census bureau figures which has resulted in the shift of unmarried parenthood from the teens to the twenties. But such later marriage (nearly age 27 for women and age 29 for men) has also helped to cut the divorce rate, which has been falling slowly since 1980.  And there is a lower incidence of divorce among college graduates who have achieved a higher socio-economic level than their non-college educated peers, whose divorce rate remains comparatively higher.