The record
The house, from 1790 to now
Move the year. Every graph moves with it. The numbers are the published ones: Census, NCHS, Gallup, BLS. A claim that those offices did not print is named as a claim, not drawn as a bar.
| The claim | The record |
|---|---|
| In 1950, 75 percent worshipped every week. Now it is 20. | Gallup's last-seven-days question peaks at 49 percent in 1955 and is about 30 percent now. |
| The divorce rate was 26 percent. Now it is 50. | Divorces per 1,000 people: 2.6 in 1950, 5.2 in 1980, about 2.4 now. The "half" is not this rate. |
| Five percent of children were born outside marriage. Now it is 40. | About 4 percent in 1950. About 40 percent now. NCHS. This one holds. |
1950
1950. Census 151.3 million. Under this rule, 32% is drawn as later stock (48.4 million) and 68% as earlier stock.
Bar height is the Census. The color is not a pedigree. Start with everyone counted in the anchor year. Each decade, births minus deaths in the whole country are shared between the two stocks in proportion to their size, and new arrivals are added only to the later stock. A person with ancestors in both stocks is not split. The page uses the shares printed on the posters. It does not recount the births.
One decade, two piles
1900 to 1910, using the 1790 rule. The bars are drawn to the same scale.
1900
1910
The first pile grew by 8.9 million even though new arrivals were not added to it. Those people are the descendants the rule gave it. The second pile grew by 7.1 million, from its own children and from people who arrived.
- Earlier stock, by the rule above
- Later stock, by the rule above
Gallup's high mark for worship in the last seven days is 49 percent, in 1955. It is not 75. Seventy was closer to church membership, which is a different question.
Births outside marriage were about 4 percent. Divorces were 2.6 per 1,000 people, not a 26 percent rate. The foreign-born share had fallen to 6.9 percent and was still falling. Women in paid work were about a third. A house could be bought by about 55 percent of households.
A second posted card uses a larger remigration figure, 6.1 million, and a net of 2.9 million against 25.2 million of population growth. The nationality rows above do not add up to that remigration figure. Both cards are shown as claims. They are not the same count.
1950: 3.1 births
Haines, historical fertility; NCHS for the modern rate
1950: 4 percent of births
NCHS
1955: 49 percent of adults
Gallup, attended in the last seven days
1950: 2.6 per 1,000 people
NCHS. The recent years leave some states out.
1950: 6.9 percent of the population
Census. A person born abroad, not a grandchild.
1950: 34 percent in the labor force
BLS. The peak is 60 percent in 1999.
1950: 55 percent
Census
1950: 20.3 years
Census, median