One in six never-married women have given birth. This also varies by race, however. While fewer than one in ten never-married white or Asian women have had a child, one in four such Hispanic women, one in three such American Indian women, and nearly half of such African American women have done so. Such families comprise three in ten households. In 1990, there were fewer such families than there were in 1980.
Older women are much more likely than older men to live alone.
Forty two percent of all women 65 and older lived alone in 1992 compared to 16 percent of men that age. Some of the greater variety of women's households results from demographic trends, particularly the increase in women's life expectancy. Living a longer life makes each woman increasingly likely to spend time in a range of household types, such as on her own before or after marriage, or living with a spouse long after the children have grown. Others result from social changes. Women are getting married later, the divorce rate remains high, and more women are having children without being married.