marital statuses/ the marital status of US citizens

[kira_moondance]

The second bar chart illustrates marital statuses of US citizens in the two years.
The second bar chart illustrates the marital status of US citizens in the two years.
I wrote the sentences above to describe these charts Academic Writing Task 1

I prefer the second sentence. Are both of them grammatically correct and do they sound natural to your ears?

 

[Copyright]

Yes, second sentence. I wouldn't use the first.

 

[kira_moondance]

Yes, second sentence. I wouldn't use the first.

Can you explain the reason why? Is it because "marital statuses" implies a person can be both married and unmarried at the same time?

I thought of another sentence. Is it correct?
The second bar chart illustrates figures for different types of marital status of US citizens in the two years.

 

[natkretep]

I'd also use 'marital status' rather than 'marital statuses'. We are thinking of a general concept (used as an uncountable noun) rather than focussing on the statuses of various individuals. The title of the chart in the IELTS page should tell you what is normal in English: 'Marital status of adult Americans ...'.

Have a look at this page from Oxford Learner's Dictionary: status noun - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage notes | Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary at OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com

[uncountable, countable] the legal position of a person, group or country
They were granted refugee status.
The party was denied legal status.