In this chart, however, we are considering three things, and the chart shows the percentage who recorded themselves as married, rather than the actual age at which marriage occurred. The percentage of those who report themselves married is affected by the number who are single and also by the number who are widowed. If in the later age classes, deaths of husbands occur more rapidly than marriages of spinsters for any particular age, the "married" curve will trend downward even though a very large number of spinsters may be marrying at that age. It is simply a question of balancing the death rate of husbands against the marriage rate of spinsters. The curve marked "married" on this chart does not show the age at marriage, but simply shows the percentage in any age class who report themselves as married and not widowed.

FREQUENCY CURVES 171

The men marry later than the women. Many of the men marrying over forty marry women much younger than themselves. As the husbands are older than the wives, the expectation of life for the husband is, of course, less than for the wives, and the number of widows at any age is far in excess of the number of widowers, on this account alone. Industrial accidents, war, etc., also tend to make a high death rate among the men and cause more widows than widowers. In Fig. 145 the curve for men has been labeled "widowed" to follow the Census Office practice in Fig. 144.