Bangladesh 1993-1994 Demographic and Health ... - Measure DHS

Table 5.3 Marital exposureFor all women 15-49, the percentage of months in the five years prior to the survey spent in marital union, byage and selected background characteristics, Bangladesh 1993-94Current ageBackgroundcharacteristic 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 TotalResidenceUrban 17.3 61.5 91.3 93.3 88.3 83.4 84.0 66.6Rural 29.8 81.0 93.0 94.0 92.9 91.2 86.7 75.6DivisionBarisal 28.7 77.0 95.6 92.8 93.0 90.3 79.3 74.7Chittagong 18.9 73.1 91.1 94.4 92.2 89.5 83.8 69.3Dhaka 30.3 78.5 93.7 94.3 93.4 87.6 87.5 75.9Khulna 31,0 79.5 93.8 95.6 91.4 94.3 92.2 76.2Rajshahi 36.4 83.7 93.2 92.0 91 3 92.1 86.2 77.6EducationNo education 41.6 86.5 92.5 93.0 91.0 88.4 85.8 82.4Primary incomplete 29.2 86.0 96.1 95.5 95.8 93.9 84.3 74.7Primary complete 27.2 82.7 95.5 96.8 94.7 97.5 (95.4) 73.7Secondary/l ligher 12.4 55.1 90.3 92.5 95.2 92.3 (87.7) 52.6Total 28.2 78.5 93.0 94.0 92.5 90.3 86.4 74.5Note: Figures in parentheses are based on 25 to 49 women.5.4 Age at First MarriageTable 5.4 shows the percentage of women who have ever been married by exact ages, as well as themedian age at first marriage, according to women's current ages. Although the intention was to obtaininformation on the age at which the respondent started to live with her husband, it is likely that some women,especially older women, reported the age at which they were formally married, which in many cases is severalyears before cohabitaion. To the extent that this occurred, it would lead to underestimates of the age at firstcohabitation.Overall, about 60 percent of Bangladeshi women were married by the time they were age 15. Themedian age at first marriage among women 20-49 is 14.4 years. There has been a slow but steady increaseover the past 25 years in the age at which Bangladeshi women first marry. The median age at marriage hasincreased from 13.6 among women currently age 45-49 to 15.3 for those age 20-24 years. There has beena particularly dramatic decline in the proportion of women marrying in their early teens; the percentage whomarry before reaching age 15 has fallen from 77 percent among women age 45-49 to 30 percent amongwomen 15-19.74