Tampico Tornado
June 28, 1951
6;3

MARRIAGES RISE RAPIDLY IN WAKE OF KOREAN WAR

There were nearly 8,875,000 marriages in the United States in 1950, or five percent more than in 1949.

The rise reflects the spurt in marriages following the outbreak of hostilities inKorea, for in the first half of 1950, the number ofweddings was below the level of the year before.

In the early months of 1950 there was every indication that the decline of the marriages would continue for the fourth successive year. In March, for example, the rate was down to 7.7 per 1,000 population, one of the lowest in the past 12 years. In fact the marriage rate in the first six months of this year averaged five percent below that for the corresponding period of the year before. The attack on South Korea brought a sharp reversal; July and each month thereafter, recorded more marriages than the comparable month of 1949. The boom in marriages was particularly marked in August and September.

The rise in marriages in 1950 was fairly general throughout the country. Generally speaking in the first 10 months of the year the largest increases were recorded in the mountain (14.2 per cent) and the east north central states (10.8). Increases of only about one per cent occurred in the west south central and the pacific states.

Marriages in the east south central states as a group actually fell below the number in 1949, but this is accounted for entirely by the sharp drop i Kentucky. Other states with substantial declines were Delaware, Georgia and Teas, all southern states.