PDF, 1536K - Measure DHS

There is an inverse relationship between female education and polygyny. The proportion of
currently married women in a polygynous union decreases from 15 percent among women with no
education to 10 percent among women with primary education, and to 5 percent among women with
secondary or higher education. Furthermore, the proportion of married women with two or more cowives
is 3 percent among women with no education, compared with 2 percent among women with
primary education and almost nonexistent among women with secondary or higher education.
A comparison of the 2000 Ethiopia DHS data with data collected from the 1990 NFFS shows little
change in the level of polygyny in Ethiopia over the decade (about 14 percent in both surveys).
Data on polygynous unions among currently married men is also shown in Table 6.2. About one
in every 11 married men (9 percent) is in a polygynous union, and this varies widely with region, urbanrural
residence, and level of education. Whereas less than 6 percent of married men under age 40 are
in polygynous unions, the corresponding proportion for the age groups 40-44, 45-54, and 55-59 are
15 percent, 16 percent, and 8 percent, respectively. Differentials by age, urban-rural residence, region,
and level of education for married men are similar to those observed for women.
6.3 AGE AT FIRST MARRIAGE
In many societies, age at first marriage marks the point in a woman’s life when childbearing
becomes socially acceptable. Women who marry early will on average have a longer exposure to the risk
of pregnancy; therefore, early age at first marriage would imply early age at childbearing and a higher
level of fertility for the society. Information on age at first marriage was obtained by asking all evermarried
respondents the month and year they started living together with their first spouse or if they
could not remember the month and year, the age at which they started living with their first spouse.
This information is presented in Table 6.3.
The median age at first marriage among women in Ethiopia has risen slowly over the last two
decades, from about 16 years for women age 30-49 to 17.2 years for women age 25-29 and to 18.1 years
for the youngest cohort (age 20-24) for whom a median could be computed. Further evidence has
shown that there has been a sharp decline in the proportion of women married in their early teens; the
percentage of women married by age 15 has declined from 35 percent among women age 35-39 to 14
percent among those currently age 15-19. The majority of Ethiopian women age 25-49 were married
by age 18 (70 percent), and 94 percent were married by age 25.
Table 6.3 also shows that men generally tend to marry much later than women, and this cuts
across all age groups. For example the median age at first marriage for men age 25-29 is 23.2 years,
compared with 17.2 years for women in the same age group. Only about one in five men were married
by age 20, as compared with four in five women. Most Ethiopian men age 25-59 were married by age
25 (61 percent).
76 * Other Proximate Determinants of Fertility