°Marriage

































Total first marriage rate* for women by country 1960–2005







Average age of women at first marriage by country 1960–2005






*average % of people who will get married in the course of their life
































CH DE* FR UK US SE ES

CH DE* FR UK US SE ES
1960 96
93

88

1960 24.9 23.4 23.4

24.3 26
1961 95
92

89

1961 24.9
23.4

24.2
1962 97
92

89

1962 24.8
23.4

24.2
1963 92
96

85

1963 24.7
23.2

24.1
1964 90
93

89

1964 24.7
23.2

24.0
1965 90
88

88

1965 24.6 23.5 23.1

23.9 25
1966 87
82

87

1966 24.5
23.2

23.8
1967 87
79

79

1967 24.4
23.2

23.9
1968 86
78

72

1968 24.4
23.1

24.2
1969 87
81

67

1969 24.3
23.1

24.2
1970 87 85 82

59

1970 24.2 23.0 23.0

24.4 25
1971 84 82 83

55

1971 24.1 22.9 23.0

24.6
1972 81 77 84

54

1972 24.2 22.9 22.9

24.6
1973 75 73 80

54

1973 24.2 22.9 22.9

24.8
1974 71 69 78

63

1974 24.2 22.9 22.9

24.9
1975 65 69 75

61 105
1975 24.3 22.8 23.0

25.2 24
1976 60 66 72

62 98
1976 24.4 22.9 23.0

25.3 24
1977 62 65 70

55 96
1977 24.7 23.0 23.2

25.5 24
1978 60 60 68

51 92
1978 24.8 23.1 23.3

25.8 24
1979 63 61 65

51 86
1979 24.9 23.2 23.3

26.1 24
1980 66 62 63

52 76
1980 25.1 23.4 23.4

26.3 23
1981 65 60 60 71
52 65
1981 25.2 23.6 23.6

26.6 24
1982 67 59 59 68
51 61
1982 25.3 23.8 23.7 24.5
26.8 24
1983 67 58 57 67 70.3 50 61
1983 25.6 24.0 23.9 24.8 23.5 27.0 24
1984 67 60 53 68 70.5 51 61
1984 25.9 24.2 24.2 25.1 23.8 27.3 24
1985 67 59 51 66 69.9 52 60
1985 26.1 24.5 24.5 25.4 24.0 27.4 24
1986 68 60 50 65 69.9 53 62
1986 26.3 24.7 24.7 25.8 24.3 27.7 24
1987 72 62 50 67 69.9 56 69
1987 26.5 24.9 25.0 26.0 24.5 27.8 25
1988 75 66 51 65 70.9 59 65
1988 26.7 24.9 25.2 26.4 24.6 28.0 25
1989 73 62 53 62 71.8 151 67
1989 26.7 24.9 25.5 25.0 24.8 30.7 25
1990 74 61 55 60 71.5 55 67
1990 27.0 25.5 25.9 25.2 25.0 27.7 26
1991 73 55 54 56
49 66
1991 27.1 26.0 25.9 25.5
27.9 26
1992 70 55 52 57
49 65
1992 27.1 26.2 26.3 25.8
28.1 26
1993 66 55 49 55
45 60
1993 27.3 26.4 26.7 26.0
28.3 27
1994 65 55 49 54
45 59
1994 27.4 26.7 27.0 26.2
28.7 27
1995 63 55 49 52
44 59
1995 27.6 26.8 27.1 26.5
28.9 27
1996 63 55 54 53
44 57
1996 27.5 26.9 27.6 26.7
29.2 27
1997 61 56 56 53
42 58
1997 27.8 27.1 27.8 26.9
29.4 28
1998 61 55 54 52
41 60
1998 28.0 27.3 28.9 27.0
29.7 28
1999 65 58 58 53
46 60
1999 28.1 27.5 28.0 27.3
30.2 28
2000 63 57 60 54
53 62
2000 28.2 27.7 28.3 27.2
30.5 28
2001 57 52 59

47 58
2001 28.4 28.0 28.3

30.3 30
2002 62
57

50 59
2002 28.4
28.5

30.5 28
2003 62 53 54

52 58
2003 28.8 28.4 28.7

30.9 29
2004 61 55 55

57 58
2004 29.0 28.8 29.1

31.2 29
2005 63
55

59 55
2005 29.1
29.4

31.5 29

















*DE: before 1991 only West Germany







*DE: before 1991 only West Germany









































Views on marriage in % by country 2002
































US UK* DE CH FR ES SE








First get married, then children 65.3 52.5 52.9 43.3 41.2 35.7 31.0








Married people are happier 41.0 24.6 37.4 30.6 24.1 24.8 15.7








Against non-married couples living together 36.3 14.7 14.4 8.9 12.0 15.1 6.4

























*UK: without Northern Ireland