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Table 6.3 Age at first marriage
Percentage of women and men who were first married by specified exact ages and median age at first marriage,
according to current age, Ethiopia 2000
____________________________________________________________________________________________
WOMEN
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Percentage
Median
Percentage first married by exact age: who had age at
_________________________________________
never
first
Current age 15 18 20 22 25 married Number marriage
____________________________________________________________________________________________
15-19
20-24
25-29
30-34
35-39
40-44
45-49
Women 20-49
14.4 NA NA NA NA 70.0 3,710 a
19.1 49.1 64.7 NA NA 26.9 2,860 18.1
24.5 56.7 71.2 81.1 88.3 9.6 2,585 17.2
30.6 74.0 85.2 90.5 94.9 2.5 1,841 15.8
35.1 73.4 84.6 92.8 96.0 1.2 1,716 15.8
33.4 79.4 91.4 96.7 98.6 0.4 1,392 15.7
34.2 77.7 88.9 95.9 98.8 0.1 1,264 15.7
27.8 65.0 78.1 NA NA 9.4 11,657 16.4
Women 25-49 30.6 70.2 82.5 89.9 94.3 3.7 8,797 16.0
____________________________________________________________________________________________
MEN
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Percentage
Median
Percentage who were first married by exact age: who had age at
_________________________________________
never
first
Current age 20 22 25 28 30 married Number marriage
____________________________________________________________________________________________
25-29
17.1 34.6 62.1 NA NA 29.2 343 23.2
30-34
20.1 35.9 53.9 75.6 81.5 13.6 276 24.3
35-39
29.3 42.3 63.7 83.3 89.1 1.6 304 22.9
40-44
24.7 43.7 56.4 80.9 85.2 1.0 182 23.7
45-49
28.4 51.1 70.2 78.9 87.9 1.3 207 21.8
50-54
19.3 32.8 60.4 84.9 88.5 0.0 142 24.0
55-59
16.6 38.2 56.9 72.9 80.3 1.5 146 23.8
Men 25-59 22.4 39.6 60.8 NA NA 9.3 1,599 23.3
____________________________________________________________________________________________
NA
a
= Not applicable
Omitted when less than 50 percent of respondents in the age group x to x+5 have married by age x
Table 6.4 shows the median age at first marriage for women age 20-49 by current age and
selected background characteristics; summary data are also given for men age 25-59. It can be seen that
urban women in the age group 25-39 marry later than their rural counterparts, but women in the age
group 40-49 marry a bit earlier than their rural counterparts. When the overall difference in the median
age at marriage at age 20-49 is observed, urban women marry one and a half years later than rural
women. The median age at first marriage among women age 25-49 varies significantly by region,
ranging from 14.3 years in the Amhara Region to 19.4 years in Dire Dawa; that is, women in Dire Dawa
marry more than 5 years later than women residing in the Amhara Region.
There is a strong relationship between education and age at marriage. Women with at least some
secondary education tend to marry nearly five years later than women with no education. The median
age at first marriage for all women age 25-49 is 16.0, compared with 23.3 for all men age 25-59. This
generally indicates that men marry more than seven years later than women in Ethiopia.
Other Proximate Determinants of Fertility* 77