Excellence Through Mediocrity: a few links on marriage trends

(photos is of the roof of the kimmel center, taken from the garden deck)

marriage in singapore, via reblog

Singaporean couples may not be happy with their partners but they will still marry them anyway, a global survey on relationships shows.

The poll of 716 couples who planned to wed showed that 39 percent were unhappy in their relationships, the highest proportion of nine societies surveyed by a U.S.-based marriage and family therapy organization.

The poll is the latest unflattering survey of ardor in a wealthy population that chases what is known in local parlance as the Five C's: career, condominium, club, credit cards and cars.
[...]
In the latest survey, only 14 percent of Singaporeans described themselves as "very happy" with their partners, the lowest of the regions surveyed and compared with 48 percent in the United States.
[...]
Other regions surveyed were Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, Britain, Canada, Germany and New Zealand. But Singapore's results stood out sharply, said Olson.

here's a bbc article on marriage trends in japan, via glassdog:

Seven out of 10 single Japanese women believe they can be perfectly happy remaining on their own, according to an opinion poll in the Yomiuri newspaper.

The number of women believing singledom can bring contentment has risen by 10% since 2003, the newspaper said.
[...]
Yomiuri's nationwide survey found that 73% of single female respondents and 67% of single males agreed that women could be completely happy living on their own.

But the numbers fell with age. Of those in their 20s, 74% of male and females asked said they believed women could be happy if they did not marry.

The rate dropped to 66% for respondents in their 30s, and 58% for those in their 40s.

and finally, a report from the rutgers national marriage project, via memepool's society section (clip is from the memepool blurb):

A recent report released by the National Marriage Project at Rutgers University, based on a survey of 1,010 heterosexual men aged 25 to 34, found that 53% of the respondents indicated they are not interested in getting married any time soon. Even more surprisingly, a significant number of eligible bachelors -- 22% percent agreed with a statement that marriage just isn't for them.