The best road to progress is freedom's road. - JFK
Texas
Map by color of age at first marriage
This is a list of countries by age at first marriage. This list is current from contemporary surveys and does not treat the topic in history. Currency of information varies by country.
Because the age distribution of people at first marriage is skewed with a longer tail towards older ages,[1] the majority of people marry before the average age of first marriage. The median age is a more precise representation of when the majority of people marry; for most reporting sources, however, only the average age at marriage is reported. Age at marriage has proven to be a reasonable indicator for female autonomy.[2]
Note: the reported age for these countries is the median, not the mean (average). All countries in italics have their data in the mean and not the median.
^Baten, Joerg; de Pleijt, Alexandra M. (2018). "Girl power Generates Superstars in Long-term Development: Female Autonomy and Human Capital Formation in Early Modern Europe". CEPR Working Paper. 13348.
^Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan. "Statistical Handbook of Japan 2019". pp. 18, Table 2.8 "Mean Age of First Marriage".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Median age at first marriage for citizens, Department of Statistics, Singapore "Population in Brief 2015"(PDF). September 2015. Archived from the original(PDF) on 19 January 2016. Retrieved 7 February 2016. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help). Page 21, Accessed 7 February 2016.
^Kiribati Demographic and Health Survey 2009 (Report). Kiribati National Statistics Office, and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community. 2010. p. 93. ISBN 978-982-00-0451-1.
^Republic of the Marshall Islands 2011 Census report(PDF) (Report). Economic Policy, Planning and Statistics Office, Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the SPC Statistics for Development Programme. 2012. p. 37. ISBN 978-982-00-0564-8. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
^Republic of Nauru Demographic and Health Survey 2007 (Report). The Nauru Bureau of Statistics, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, and Macro International Inc. 2009. p. 77. ISBN 978-982-00-0333-0.
^Stats NZ. "Marriages, civil unions, and divorces: Year ended December 2019". www.stats.govt.nz. New Zealand Government. Retrieved 24 February 2021. In 2019, the median age at first marriage or civil union was 29.4 years for women and 30.6 years for men, compared with 27.0 and 28.9, respectively, in 1999...The median age at marriage for all marriages (rather than just first marriages) has been slowly increasing since the early 2000s...The median age for females in 2019 was the highest on record (the highest male median age was 32.6 years in 2006).
^Tonga Demographic and Health Survey 2012(PDF) (Report). Tonga Ministry of Health, Tonga Department of Statistics, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, and United Nations Population Fund. 2014. p. 80. ISBN 978-982-00-0661. Retrieved 3 September 2016.{{cite report}}: CS1 maint: ignored ISBN errors (link)
^Tuvalu Demographic and Health Survey 2007(PDF) (Report). Central Statistics Division, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, and Macro International Inc. October 2009. p. 82. ISBN 978-982-00-0382-8. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
^Vanuatu Demographic and Health Survey 2013(PDF) (Report). Vanuatu Ministry of Health, Vanuatu National Statistics Office, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community. 2014. p. xxiii. ISBN 978-982-00-0861-8. Archived from the original(PDF) on 20 September 2016. Retrieved 3 September 2016.