Moms and dads have their special day. So do grandparents.
It may seem a bit odd to some, but single people have their own week to celebrate, and it starts Sunday. The Buckeye Singles Council began National Singles Week in Ohio in the 1980s to celebrate single life and recognize singles and their contributions to society.
The Census Bureau reports that the week is widely observed during the third full week of September as "Unmarried and Single Americans Week." It is a recognition that many unmarried Americans do not identify with the word "single" because they are parents, have partners or are widowed, reshaping how this country defines a household.
For the purpose of the census, unmarried people include individuals who were never married, are widowed or are divorced. In 2015, the U.S. had 109 million unmarried people ages 18 and older. This group constituted 45 percent of all people in the country ages 18 and older.
When it comes to gender, 47 percent of unmarried U.S. residents ages 18 and older were women in 2015 and 53 percent were men. That year 63 percent of unmarried people in the U.S. 18 and older had never been married, 24 percent were divorced and 13 percent were widowed.
Not all single people are young _ 19 million were 65 and older in 2015. They represented 18 percent of the unmarried people age 18 and older in the U.S.
The U.S. in 2015 had 59 million households maintained by unmarried men and women. They represented 47 percent of all households nationwide. The census reports that 35 million singles lived alone, and they comprised 28 percent of all U.S. households. That's a substantial increase from 17 percent in 1970.
In 2014, 36 percent of women age 15 to 50 who were widowed, divorced or never married had given birth in the last 12 months. In 2015, 39 percent of opposite-sex, unmarried-partner couples lived with at least one biological child of either partner.
The U.S. had 788,730 unmarried grandparents who were responsible for most of the basic care of a co-resident grandchild in 2014. That year, 30 percent of co-resident grandparents who were responsible for their grandchildren were unmarried.
The U.S. in 2014 had 7 million unmarried-partner households, and of that number, 448,271 were same-sex households.
Politicians seeking election should take seriously people who are unmarried and single because they do vote. In 2012, 39 percent of voters in the presidential election were unmarried compared with 24 percent of voters in the 1972 presidential election. In the November 2014 congressional election, 35 percent of the voters were unmarried.
They also are educated. In 2015, 87 percent of unmarried people 25 and older had completed high school or more education; 27 percent had a bachelor's degree or more.
For those out there who are unmarried and single, pop the cork on a bottle of champagne or pull the tab on a few beers and enjoy celebrating your week.
ABOUT THE WRITER
Lewis Diuguid is a columnist for the Kansas City Star. Readers may email him at ldiuguid@kcstar.com.
