Median age at first marriage across 70+ countries and 30 major world cities – revealing a global span from Estonia's 36.4 (men) to Niger's 19.2 (women), and how dramatically marriage timing has shifted in 25 years.
Marriage age maps closely to economic development – but culture, religion, and legal frameworks create sharp exceptions to the GDP pattern.
Across the world, the age at which people first marry varies by nearly two decades. In Northern and Western Europe, first marriages now routinely happen in the mid-30s. In parts of Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, they still occur in the late teens and early 20s.
The pattern broadly follows GDP per capita – wealthier nations marry later – but there are striking exceptions. South Korea (men 33.7) outpaces most of Western Europe despite a lower GDP than several European peers. Argentina (men 32.4) marries later than the UK (men 31.0) despite a fraction of the income. Culture, education access, and urbanization all shape marriage timing beyond income alone.
Across developed nations, marriage ages have climbed 2–5 years since 2000. But sub-Saharan Africa has seen far less change.
Sources: UN Population Division, World Marriage Data 2024; OECD Family Database SF3.1; World Population Review; national statistics offices.
Click any column header to sort. All figures represent median or mean age at first marriage from the most recent available national data.
| # | Country | Region | Men | Women | Combined | Gap |
|---|
| # | City | Country | Region | Men | Women | Combined |
|---|
Sources: UN Population Division; OECD Family Database; Eurostat; World Population Review; national census/statistics offices. City estimates from national urban demographic surveys and proxy calculations.
A complete explanation of data sources, calculations, and limitations for this global report.
This report presents median or mean age at first marriage for 70+ countries and 30 major world cities. Most developed nations report the median (midpoint); some developing nations report the Singulate Mean Age at Marriage (SMAM), a demographic estimate calculated from census data on the proportion of people never married at each age. Both measures are widely used and closely comparable for cross-country ranking purposes.
Countries (70+ entries): Data is compiled from three primary sources: the UN Population Division's World Marriage Data (2024 revision), the OECD Family Database indicator SF3.1 (Mean Age at First Marriage), and World Population Review's aggregation of national statistics office data. Where sources disagree, the most recent national statistics office figure is preferred, followed by Eurostat (for EU countries), then UN estimates.
World Cities (30 entries): City-level marriage age data is not systematically published by any international body. These figures are estimated from national urban demographic surveys, city-level census tabulations where available, and proxy calculations based on the known relationship between urbanization and later marriage within each country. Major cities typically have marriage ages 1–3 years above their national average.
Circa-2000 Comparisons: Where referenced in the trend section, year-2000 figures come from the UN World Marriage Data 2008 revision and the OECD's historical SF3.1 time series.
The combined average provides a single comparable figure per country. The gender gap reveals how different male and female marriage timing is – gaps tend to be wider in less-developed countries (4–6 years) and narrower in high-income OECD countries (1–3 years).
| Column | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| # | Rank | Row position based on current sort (default: combined average, descending) |
| Country | Text | Country name (common English form) |
| Region | Category | Geographic region: Europe, Americas, Asia, Africa, Oceania, Middle East |
| Men | Numeric | Median or SMAM age at first marriage for men |
| Women | Numeric | Median or SMAM age at first marriage for women |
| Combined | Calculated | (Men + Women) / 2 |
| Gap | Calculated | Men − Women |
| Column | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| # | Rank | Row position based on current sort |
| City | Text | City name |
| Country | Text | Country where city is located |
| Region | Category | Geographic region |
| Men | Numeric | Estimated median age at first marriage for men in this metro area |
| Women | Numeric | Estimated median age at first marriage for women |
| Combined | Calculated | (Men + Women) / 2 |
| Source | Data Used | URL |
|---|---|---|
| UN Population Division | World Marriage Data, median/SMAM by country | population.un.org |
| OECD Family Database | SF3.1 Mean Age at First Marriage, time series | oecd.org |
| Eurostat | Mean age at first marriage by sex, EU/EEA countries | ec.europa.eu |
| World Population Review | Country-level marriage age aggregation | worldpopulationreview.com |
| US Census Bureau (CPS) Table MS-2 | US historical marriage age for comparison | census.gov |
