More Americans are Living Without a Spouse or Partner

More Americans are living without a partner these days, especially young adults, according to the Pew Research Center.

Nearly half of American adults now live without a spouse or partner. Forty-two percent fall into that category, up from 39 percent 10 years ago.

In 2007, the Census Bureau started gathering extensive information on cohabitation.

Pew reports that two demographic trends have led to an increase in the number of "unpartnered" Americans.

There has been a drop in the number of married adults, while the number of Americans living with a romantic partner has risen. However, the cohabitation increase has not been enough to counteract the drop in marriage.

That results in more Americans without a partner.

The biggest increase is among young adults. More than 60 percent of adults younger than 35 do not have a spouse or partner. It's an increase of 5 percent over the last decade.

According to Pew, divorce likely is not a reason for the rise in the number of unpartnered adults since 2007. The organization says many claim, that for the most part, the divorce rate has been stable or dropping since the 1980s.

The study also found that women are more likely to live without a spouse or partner than men (43 percent to 40 percent).

It also released results based on race. Black adults (62 percent) and Hispanic adults (46 percent) are more likely to be unpartnered than white and Asian adults (37 percent in each group).