According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, single adults now outnumber married adults for the first time since 1976 when they first began tracking the data.
– On your own? You're in good company. Just north of half of Americans over the age of 16—50.2% of them, or 124.6 million, to be specific—are single, the Bureau of Labor Statistics finds. It's the first time a majority have been single since such record-keeping began in 1976, Bloomberg reports. Back then, the percentage of singles was 37.4%. A few other relevant numbers: The percentage of Americans who've never tied the knot is now 30.4%, compared to 22.1% in 1976, while the percentage of divorced people is 19.8%, versus 15.3% in 1976, RT reports. The number of unmarried people is significant when it comes to the economy, expert Edward Yardeni tells Bloomberg. "They spend more discretionary dollars than their married counterparts," a Fortune article last year noted, as cited by RT, and they plow $2 trillion into the economy each year. But their habits could misleadingly boost the appearance of income inequality, Yardeni says: "While they have less household earnings than married people, they also have fewer expenses, especially if there are no children in their households." At Jezebel, Kara Brown calls on fellow singles to celebrate: "Swipe right on Tinder proudly and enjoy not having to regularly share your bed comforter."