Indexes of nuptiality: Asia and the Pacific
Smith, P.C.
Asian and Pacific Census Forum 5(2): 1-3,6
1978
ISSN/ISBN: 0732-0515 PMID: 12261899 Document Number: 388709
This article describes some indexes of nuptiality calculated from census marital status information from 35 Asian and Pacific countries. Percentages single at the youngest ages indicate the tempo of recent nuptiality; percentages still unmarried at older ages index the prevalence of nuptiality and conversely, the prevalence of life-long nonmarriage. One index is the singulate mean age at marriage (SMAM) based on a cross-sectional schedule of percentages single by age group. Another index takes ratios of percentages single in successive age groups in 2 censuses and applies them to a hypothetical cohort as the average experience over the intercensal period to obtain a new set of percentage single figures. Ansley Coale's index rescales diverse schedules of percentages ever married by age which have an essentially common form. This system forms a curve of percentages ever married by age with a double exponential form and 3 parameters: age after which members of a cohort enter marriage; maximum percentage ever married in the cohort; and, the tempo at which the percentage ever married shifts from near zero to maximum percentage ever married. Relationships among nuptiality indicators show positive correlations between measures of female marriage timing, forming a behavioral profile.