Marriage trends and their demographic implications
Majumdar, M.; Gupta, A.D.
Sankhya. Series B 31(3-4): 491-500
1969
ISSN/ISBN: 0581-5738 PMID: 12278391 Document Number: 516465
In India marriages are nearly universal, particularly for women in the population. Most marriages take place close to the start of the reproductive period. Because of a common custom which delays cohabitation when the marriage occurs below the age of puberty, formal marriage does not necessarily coincide with the beginning of reproductive life. The trend in marriage ages after adjustment for differential survival probabilities of couples married at different ages reveals only a slight increase since the start of the 20th century although the increase is a little higher in the urban areas. The average marriage ages are low, yet there is considerable variation in the ages by residence and socioeconomic characteristics -- particularly by the educational level of the wife. The labor force participation rate among women at higher ages varies according to marital status in the urban areas. The rate is much lower for married women although the overall urban rate for women is much smaller than the rural. The number of children ever born declines systematically with a rise in the age of the wife at marriage, although the differences are narrowed when the surviving children rather than those ever born are considered.