Key Difference: Unmarried refers to the marital status of a person. It mentions that either he has never been married, nor has been remarried after divorce whereas, single could mean that a person is legally separated, or the person has never been married. Both unmarried and single as terms are gender neutral.

A marital status is used to indicate that whether the person is married or not. Marriages or weddings are integral part of the society. It symbolizes the union of a couple and they promise to share their lives with each other. Marriage is regarded as a formal union and thus has to be typically recognized by law. After the marriage the man is also referred as the husband in relation to the woman, whom he got married to, and similarly the woman is referred as the man’s wife. However, in some countries same-sex marriages have been also legalized.

The marital status can be categorized into:-

1. Married:  this marital status indicates that at present, the person is legally married and couple is not separated through a divorce.

2. Widowed: this marital status indicated that the legally married spouse of the concerned person is dead. It also indicates that the person has not remarried.

3. Separated: this marital status includes that the person is legally married but they both are no longer staying together; as they both do not want to stay together.

4. Divorced: this marital status indicates that the person has obtained a legal divorce and has not remarried.

5. Single: this marital status indicates that the person has either never married or   the marriage has been legally annulled. The person has not also remarried after the divorce.

6. Unmarried: this marital status indicates that the person has never been married.

The categorization has been obtained, as it forms an important consideration in the society. For example: while filling an application form, you might be asked to fill your marital status, a job interviewer may take your marital status into consideration, a landlord may ask the marital status of tenant, or anything. This is again specific to the concerned person or activity.

A married person, as already discussed, is a person who is legally married. The person may have been divorced in earlier marriage relationship but it does not affect the current status of the person, and hence the person will be referred as married. On the other hand, single is just opposite of being married. Single refers to a person who is not legally married to anyone at the present. However, it includes both types of people, who have never been married or has obtained divorce (not remarried).

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