Explanations for marriage levels and trends

Marriage is one of the important demographic indicators of a population. It is also related to fertility: a large fraction of childbearing and childrearing occurs within the context of marriage. In general, we are concerned about the following in relation to marriage:

• Singulate mean age at marriage (males and females separately): What's the average age at which people get married?
• Total marriage rate and total first marriage rate (male and female): What fraction of the population is getting married (for the first time) in a year?
• Celibacy rate: What fraction of the population doesn't marry at all?

To connect marriage and fertility, the following measures are generally used:

• Total marital fertility rate refers to the fertility rate within marriage (there are some measurement subtleties).
• Illegitimacy ratio and illegitimacy rate