Study Finds Massive Shift in US Marriages

1 in 6 new marriages is now mixed
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted May 19, 2017 2:39 AM CDT
Study: 1 in 6 New US Marriages Is Mixed
In this Jan. 26, 1965 photo, Mildred Loving and her husband, Richard P. Loving, are shown in Virginia.   (AP Photo)

More and more Americans are marrying people of different races and ethnicities, reaching at least 1 in 6 newlyweds in 2015, the highest proportion in American history, according to a new study released Thursday. Currently, there are 11 million people—or 1 out of 10 married people—in the United States with a spouse of a different race or ethnicity, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of US Census Bureau data. This is a big jump from 50 years ago, when the Supreme Court ruled interracial marriage was legal throughout the United States. That year, only 3% of newlyweds were intermarried, meaning they had a spouse of a different race or ethnicity. In 2015, 17% of newlyweds were intermarried.

"There's much greater racial tolerance in the United States, with attitudes having changed in a way where it's much more positive toward interracial marriage," Daniel T. Lichter, director of the Institute for the Social Sciences at Cornell University, tells the AP. "But I think that a greater reason is the growing diversity of the population. There are just more demographic opportunities for people to marry someone of another race or ethnicity." Researchers say Asian-Americans were most likely to intermarry in 2015, with 29% of newlywed Asians married to someone of a different race or ethnicity, followed by Hispanics at 27%, blacks at 18%, and whites at 11%. (More marriage stories.)

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