More children are living with their divorced or never married dads in the last 40 years, but look at what happened during the recession– more divorced dads with children and a dramatic drop for unmarried fathers. The employment status of unmarried fathers may have something to do with this change. More US Census Bureau demographics about living arrangements of children.
Children living with unmarried single mothers has risen sharply for children over the past 40 years. Almost half of children who are living with in mother-only households are headed by unmarried single mothers. This graph from the US Census Bureau shows the patterns.
Over time this figure shows the changes in marital history of men in different birth cohorts (a birth cohort is all the men born in a specific time period). The men born in the years 1940-44 were ages 77-82 when this report was created. The men born in the years 1975-79 were ages 32-37. Keep this in mind when looking at these data. The younger group (1975-79) is still likely to experience more changes in their marital history.
Nevertheless, you can still see some trends. On average, about 2/3 of men are married at least once and this has remained constant over much of this period except this most recent period (those born 1975-79 who still have a chance of marriage). A more difficult trend to determine in whether 2nd and 3rd time marriages are declining– the cohorts between 1950-1969 seem to suggest this trend. The increase in the number of men never getting married is also apparent, but there is also a trend of marrying at older ages so some of the men born between 1970-1979 may still get married. 
Eurostat periodically issues some nice charts and explanations of marriage and divorce trends in the OECD countries. Here is a sample of their work. Complete report on these trends. The report states,
“The crude divorce rates and their changes from 1970 to 2008 are presented in Chart SF3.1.E. During this period, divorce rates increased in most countries, except for Estonia and Latvia where divorce rates were high in 1970 (the increase in divorce rates in the United States from a similar base was also very small). There were large cross-national differences in crude divorce rates in 2008, and ranged from a low of less than one divorce per 1000 inhabitants in Chile and Mexico, to over 3 per 1000 inhabitants in Belgium and the United States.”
Child Trends collects and organizes lots of data about children and families. Below are some the indicators that apply to marriage and parenting.
The divorce rate in England and Wales has edged up slightly in 2011 compared to 2010. (See complete report.) For 2011, the rate was 10.8 divorces per 1,000 married persons. The rates were identical for men and women. Over the 40 year time frame (1971-2011), the divorce rates have been falling since 2005. The rates are about the same as the early 1980s. Some caution must be observed in understanding these rates as cohabitation has been increasing during the time period and the rate of marriage has been declining.
The United Kingdom Office of National Statistics just released the 2011 report on cohabitation and divorce. As a part of this report they have produced some excellent 5 minute explanatory videos examining the patterns of cohabitation and civil partnerships.
They produce some very comprehensive statistics and marriage, cohabitation, civil partnerships and divorce.
More information on divorcescience related to demographics….
