IELTS writing: Comparison of Marriages and Divorces in the USA The first bar chart shows the number of marriages and divorces from 1970 to 2000 in America, and the second chart compares four kinds of marital status in two different years. Overall, the rates of marriage were in decline during this period, and more people in 2000 chose to stay out of marriage than in 1970. In 1970, there were 2.5 million marriages as opposed to 1 million divorces. In the next four decades, the number of marriages fell by 0.5 million, reaching 2 millions in 2000. The year 1980 saw the highest number of divorces in the four years shown, yet this figure dropped slowly back to its original level in 1970, exactly half of the number of marriages. The second chart illustrates that the majority of adults in America were married in both 1970 and 2000, though the percentage of these adults decreased from 70% in 1970 to just under 60% in 2000. On the contrary, the proportion of people who had not yet got married and those who were divorced both rose by around 5%, reaching 20% and about 9% in 2000. A slight fall was seen in the category of widowed adults.