Zambia Demographic and Health Survey 2001-2002 - Measure DHS

Table 6.3 Age at first marriagePercentage of women and men who were first married by specific exact ages, and median age at firstmarriage, by current age, Zambia 2001-2002–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––Number MedianPercentage first married by exact age: Percentage of age at––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– never women/ firstCurrent age 15 18 20 22 25 married men marriage–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––WOMEN–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––15-19 4.9 na na na na 73.0 1,811 a20-24 7.8 42.1 63.3 na na 24.6 1,664 18.725-29 8.4 45.3 66.1 78.3 88.2 8.0 1,376 18.430-34 10.3 48.4 69.1 79.9 89.3 4.4 972 18.135-39 15.4 56.8 74.0 83.8 93.5 0.8 766 17.540-44 18.0 59.7 80.2 89.3 94.5 0.8 601 17.345-49 24.6 63.7 83.3 89.6 94.2 0.2 467 16.820-49 11.7 49.4 69.7 79.5 86.5 9.8 5,847 18.125-49 13.3 52.2 72.2 82.5 91.0 4.0 4,182 17.8–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––MEN–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––15-19 0.0 na na na na 98.2 459 a20-24 0.0 5.3 13.0 na na 68.7 346 a25-29 0.0 5.0 15.4 40.3 64.9 17.9 361 23.230-34 0.0 3.5 16.8 37.3 68.1 5.8 281 23.035-39 0.6 5.2 16.1 36.5 63.6 3.7 241 23.540-44 0.2 2.8 17.0 44.0 70.3 1.9 174 22.545-49 0.0 4.2 16.9 34.0 59.7 0.5 113 23.650-54 0.4 4.4 14.7 29.4 65.2 0.0 100 23.555-59 0.0 3.0 9.3 32.6 62.3 0.0 71 23.925-59 0.2 4.2 15.8 37.7 65.5 7.0 1,341 23.2–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––na = Not applicableaOmitted because less than 50 percent of respondents married for the first time before reaching thebeginning of the age groupIn general, men marry at a later age than women. For example, the median age at first marriagefor those age 25-29 years is 18 for women and 23 for men.Table 6.4 shows differences in the median age at first marriage by background characteristics forwomen and men. Because of small samples of married respondents, data for women age 15-19 and formen age 15-24 have been omitted.Urban women marry about one year later than rural women, while the difference for men is abouttwo years. Among both women and men, the median age at first marriage is highest in Western province,followed by Copperbelt and Lusaka. Young marriage is more common in Eastern, Luapula, and North-Western provinces. The median age at first marriage is higher among those with at least some secondaryeducation than among those with less education; this pattern is true for women and men.96 │ Other Determinants of Fertility