The marriage squeeze myth

[momopi]

A common compliant about interracial marriages today is the "marriage squeeze". Usually, the complaint goes something like this, a black women complain about how all the black men want to marry white women, or the Asian man complain that all the Asian women want to marry white. In either case, their conclusion is that it leaves a high % of Asian men and Black women who are single and cannot find a spouse.

The most reliable data source I have for this kind of "facts and figures" is the US Census. So I went to their web site and took a peak:
http://www.census.gov/population/www/so ... s2006.html

If you click on the spreadsheet, you'll find data on marriage by age group, as well as a column all the way to the right labeled "never married". That is, the % of men in that age group that has never married. These stats were collected in 2006.

Let's start with the Asian households. In 2006, the % of Asian men who were never married, grouped by age:
25-29: 72.5%
30-34: 37.3%
35-39: 18%
40-44: 16.2%

Compared with Asian women, who never married:
25-29: 45.7%
30-34: 20.3%
35-39: 11.9%
40-44: 10.1%

Obviously, most of us know that women marry earlier than men, so the % of single men at 25 is higher than women. So what does this chart tell us? Does it mean that Asian men got a raw deal? Well, let's compare to Whites:

White Male, never married:
25-29: 53.4%
30-34: 30.6%
35-39: 21.2%
40-44: 16.7%

White Female, never married
25-29: 38%
30-34: 19.6%
35-39: 13.1%
40-44: 10.3%

What does the numbers tell us? White men marry earlier than Asian men, but by age 35 more Asian men have been married than white men. So if there was some huge marriage squeeze and Asian men couldn't find a wife, then more of them should be single at age 35. If you thought Asian men got a raw deal in the mating game, how come the stats compare favorably to White men?

But wait! Some would say, interracial marriage has became more common and the older men were lucky to find wives 10 years ago. Oh really? Let's see 1995 stats:
http://www.nber.org/mortality/1995/docs/mspop95r.txt

Asian Male, never married in 1995: (this require use of a calculator)
30-34: 35.6%
35-39: 20%
40-44: 14.3%

Compare to Asian men, never marred in 2006:
30-34: 37.3%
35-39: 18%
40-44: 16.2%

Um, yeah, sure, from the numbers it looks like it was easier for a 35 year old Asian man in 2006 to have been married, than 1995. ;p


Now let's look at blacks in 2006:
Black Male, never married
25-29: 76.5%
30-34: 50.4%
35-39: 38.3%
40-44: 31.5%


Black Women, never married
25-29: 67.6%
30-34: 48.8%
35-39: 37%
40-44: 29.2%

Well gee, the % of Black men and women who were never married (and therefore single) is roughly the same! Where's the marriage squeeze? If more black men ran off to marry white women, shouldn't there be less % of black men who were never married?

================================

So what's the point, you might ask.

Let's look at the stats again:
In 2006, the % of Asian men who were never married, grouped by age:
25-29: 72.5%
30-34: 37.3%
35-39: 18%
40-44: 16.2%

1. You could say that there's more "young and angry" Asian men at age 25-29, watching their female Asian friends getting married, their white friends getting married, and still being single and upset.

2. Asian-American guys are "late bloomers" by statics.

3. Although the marriage rate becomes roughly equal to whites by age 35-39 category, 18% (roughly 1 in 5) remain single and have never been married. If you're reading this, you probably fit in that category!

Instead of blaming interracial marriage and the "marriage squeeze", perhaps it's time to examine why 82% of your AZN bros have found wives, but we sit in the remaining 18% group. Blaming others, pointing fingers, and being an Angry Asian won't solve your problem.

A make over, change of habits, improvement to personality/attitude, social life, meeting new people, or even moving to a new environment might help!