The number of Americans getting married is at an all-time low, while those who do marry are waiting longer to marry for the first time, according to US Census Bureau figures.

Just 52 per cent of adults 18 and over were married in 2010, compared to 57 per cent in 2000, according to the U.S. census data. 

The never-marrieds included 46.3 per cent of young adults 25-34 — the first time the share of never-married young adults exceeded those who were married, 44.9 per cent, with the rest being divorced or widowed.

Since 1970, the median age men get married has risen from 22.5 to 28.4, while women are becoming first-time brides at 26.5 on average, compared to 20.6.

International figures also indicate a distinct trend in waiting longer to legally become man and wife.

In Ireland, the average age at which men first get married is 32.1 for men while the average age of first marriage for women is 30.4.

In Canada the average age of marriage to someone of the opposite sex was 30.6 years for men and 28.5 years for women — an increase of about five years for both sexes since 1973.

In countries including the United Kingdom, Austria, Norway, Hong Kong and China, first-time marriages are now in the late 20s for women and early 30s for men.

Changing family makeup, more social acceptibility of living together and having children out of wedlock, and fear of becoming part of the rising number of divorces are largely behind the delay-marriage trend, experts believe.

The number of marriages North America-wide has been declining for years, due to rising divorce, more unmarried couples living together and increased job prospects for women.

A study released in 2010 by the Vanier Institute of the Family in Ottawa concluded the traditional definition of family is changing in Canada, with four in 10 first marriages ending in divorce.

For the first time in Canadian history, the institute reported, there were more unmarried people than legally married people age 15 and over in the country, says the study based on data from the 2006 census.

Meanwhile, research suggests that Generation X, those born between the mid-1960s and late 1970s, scarred by the divorce boom of their parents’ era, have been deciding against divorce.

Figures from the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia show that the number of divorces has been in decline since it peaked in 1980.

According to their research, that is particularly true of highly educated couples, only 11 percent of whom divorce during their first 10 years of marriage.

That compares to 37 percent of the rest of the population.