(LifeSiteNews) — According to a recent report by the Institute for Family Studies (IFS), the number of unmarried young males has grown precipitously since the turn of the century.
“Over the past 25 years, the gap between the number of unmarried and married men ages 20-39 has widened from 2.6 million to a whopping 15 million,” University of Virginia sociology professor Brad Wilcox noted on X.
Since 2000, the number of unmarried men in that age group rose from 47% from 20.7 million to 30.4 million in 2025 while the number of married men decreased from 18.1 million to 15.4 million.
New: Number of unmarried young men surging in🇺🇸. Unmarried young men (20-39) now outnumber married men by nearly 2 to 1. Since 2000:
✔️Unmarried up 47% : 20.7M (2000) → 30.4M (2025)
✔️Married down 15%: 18.1M (2000) → 15.4M (2025) pic.twitter.com/xl9wHVFLIg— Brad Wilcox (@BradWilcoxIFS) August 18, 2026
“Today, there are nearly twice as many unmarried men in this age group as married ones,” Wilcox and Isabella Dini observed Friday.
“While some of these men may simply be delaying marriage until their 40s or later, many will spend the rest of their lives as bachelors,” they explained. “Because married adults consistently report being happier than their unmarried peers, the sheer number of young men forgoing marriage could be adding to the happiness crash now unfolding among young adults across America.”
A separate IFS report published in April showed that from 2010 to 2024 “happiness among married young adults fell from 94% to 90%, compared to a decline from 82% to 68% among unmarried young adults, resulting in a 22-percentage point gap between the groups.”