Like a Fish Needs a Bicycle

NY Times: "For what experts say is probably the first time, more American women are living without a husband than with one." I'm not sure I understand how this conclusion is materially different from the recent finding that married couples are now a minority of all households, but it's probably a good opportunity for someone or other to muse on the Decline of the West or something. It should be said, however, that a big factor here seems to be that life expectancy, health, and aging trends are increasing the proportion of widows in the general population which is pretty different from the other factors (delayed marriage, more divorces, more never-marrieds) contributing to the relatively decline of married people.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2007/01/like-a-fish-needs-a-bicycle/41208/