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MARITAL STATUS OF OLDER POPULATION

In 1983 older men were twice as likely to be married as older women (79% of men
40% of women)

Half of the older women were widows (50%).  There were over 5 times as many 
widows (7.7 million) as there were widowers (1.4 million)

Although divorced older persons represented only 4% of older persons in 1983,
their numbers, nearly one million, had increased four times as fast as the 
older population as a whole in the proceding 20 years (2.7 times for men
and 5.4 times for women)

MARITAL STATUS OF PERSONS 65+ AS OF 1983

Status        Men     Women

Married       79%     40%

Widowed       13%     50%

Never married  5%      6%

Divorced       3%      4%

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