Ukrainians marrying later

There is a growing tendency in Ukraine for young couples to postpone their marriage until they create their own network, obtain a degree, have a career and reach a certain social status. Minister of Family, Youth and Sports of Ukraine Ravil Saffiulin voiced this opinion while commenting on the data of the Department of Family and Gender Policy on the average marriage age in Ukraine, UKRINFORM notes.

The average age for getting married increased between 2006 and 2009. Among men it increased from 29.6 to 30.2, among women — from 26.7 to 27.3. A similar trend affected the contraction of people’s first marriages, for which the average age increased from 25.4 to 26.3 for men, and from 22.8 to 23.7 for women. This tendency to get married later may have an effect on family structure renewal. Nevertheless, Ukrainians continue to marry quite young by European standards. Sixteen percent of Ukranian wives are younger than twenty. In Italy, Spain, Norway, Sweden and the Czech Republic they represent less than two percent; in Poland, Portugal, Latvia, Slovakia and Estonia the rate is about 4-6 percent. According to the department, after the fall in the number of marriages in the 1990s, the institution has somewhat revived in Ukraine.

In 2007 the general marriage rate (amount of marriages per 1,000 people) was 9.0, which remains the highest in Europe. In urban areas the rate was 10.0, and in rural areas it was 6.7. The marriage rate in 1996 fell all the way to 6.0 (the highest rate ever was 9.5, in 1991). We also tend to observe peaks in the numbers of marriages in pre-leap years, while leap years are usually marked by troughs.