The Demopædia Encyclopedia on Population is under heavy modernization and maintenance. Outputs could look bizarre, sorry for the temporary inconvenience

Multilingual Demographic Dictionary, second unified edition, English volume

Age difference between spouses

Multilingual Demographic Dictionary, second unified edition, English vol.
Jump to: navigation, search
Age difference between spouses  (AGE difference between spouses)


Relative marriage frequency is measured by marriage rates 1 or nuptiality rates 1, among which the crude marriage rate 2 gives the ratio of the total number of marriages to the total population in a given period. Male nuptiality 3 and female nuptiality 4 are often different, and can be studied separately. The terms male nuptiality and female nuptiality are used for the marriage frequency of the different sexes. A sex-specific marriage rate 5 can be computed with the appropriate population of each sex as a base. It is usual to distinguish between a first marriage rate 6, which relates the number of bachelors or spinsters (515-3 and 4) marrying to the total number of bachelors and spinsters respectively and a remarriage rate 7 which relates the number of remarriages to the total number of widowed and divorced persons. Similar rates can be computed by age or age-group of husband and wife whenever marriages are classified by age at marriage 8 of each spouse; such rates are called age-specific marriage rates 9. The tabulation of spouses by age at marriage permits the computation of the mean age at marriage 10 or average age at marriage 10 for the given year or period. Age differences between spouses 11 can be analyzed from a classification of the combined ages 12 of the spouses.

  • 2. Sometimes the crude marriage rate is obtained by relating the number of newly married persons to the total population.
  • 9. The terms marriage frequencies and first marriage frequencies have sometimes been used to refer to the ratio of the number of marriages or first marriages at a certain age, to the total number of persons of that age, irrespective of their marital status. Cumulated marriage frequencies and cumulated first marriage frequencies are used in cohort studies.

More...