Between the 1950s and today, the average age to marry in the Netherlands increased significantly for both genders. Whereas in 1950, men were on average 30 years old when they married and women were nearly 27 years old, in 2022 this was 39.1 and 36.4 years respectively. This raise in the average age at marriage however meant a decrease in the number of marriages per person, which decreased by almost 0.20 in the last decade alone. The average Dutch person married between 0.48 and 0.47 times in 2021.

 Number of marriages   

In 2021, roughly 56,000 marriages took place. The majority of these marriages were closed between a man and a woman, but since same-sex marriages were legalized in the Netherlands in 2001, each year also between 1,000 and 2,400 same-sex couples tie the knot. In the last decade, the number of marriages peaked in 2010, when almost 86,000 marriages took place.

Living happily ever after  

In 2021, nearly 60,000 couples celebrated 12.5 years of marital bliss, and a further 51.9 thousand couples had been married for 25 years. And of course, with time the number of special wedding anniversaries decreases, as divorce or death dissolves many a marriage. Still, that year 327 couples celebrated 70 years of wedded life together.

The average age at which people in England and Wales get married has been getting older since the 1970s, with the average age of men marrying women rising from 27.4 in 1972 to 39.7 by 2019, with the average age for women marrying men increasing from 24.7 to 37.3 in the same time period. Since 2014, and the legalization of same-sex marriage in England and Wales, the average age for men marrying men has fluctuated between 39.5 and 40.8, while the average age for females marrying females has fluctuated between 36.4 and 37.4.

In 2022, the median age for the first wedding among women in the United States stood at 28.6 years. For men, the median age was 30.5 years. The median age of Americans at their first wedding has been steadily increasing for both men and women since 1998.

in 2023, on average, women in Germany got married sometime after turning 32 years old. The graph confirms that marriage took place later and later every year. Various reasons may contribute to this development. Life today Women can simply afford, in various senses of the word, to marry later than before. Being unmarried, regardless of age, has mostly ceased to be stigmatized or unusual for women in Germany. This does not exclude pressure, attention or curiosity from others about the topic, or a woman’s relationship status. It also does not exclude the desire of women to get married. However, in general, attitudes have relaxed significantly in recent decades, nor are there any legal restrictions for unmarried women in terms of education, employment, healthcare, renting or owning property. Women’s life expectancy at birth has increased steadily in Germany, with the latest figures citing 83.2 years. It is also not unusual for Germans to have children outside of a marriage. In fact, figures have been climbing annually since the 1990s and in 2023, around a third of children born, were born outside a marriage. Whether this happens due to a decision made mutually, individually or other circumstances, a woman being shunned for having a child out of wedlock is definitely a thing of the past. Changing demographics Marrying at a later age than in the 1990s, when women got married in their mid to late twenties, is also part of a general demographic shift in Germany, such as the increase in single households (though it does not necessarily mean that the person is unmarried, they might be in a long-distance marriage, for example). Women may also still be studying or traveling before their thirties, preferring to concentrate on concluding these chapters in their lives before proceeding to marriage, especially if they do not yet have a full-time job.

Spain had the oldest mean average age of marriage in Europe for both males and females at 36.8 for males, and 34.7 for females in 2022. By contrast, Poland had the youngest average age at marriage for males, at 30.7 and Romania for females at the age of 28.

Men and women in Japan are getting married increasingly later than previous generations. In 2023, the average age of women who marry for the first time was about 29.7 years, while men were on average 31.1 years old when they first got married. Social integration of women The rising age at first marriage was partly explained by a common theory that holds the growing number of “parasite singles” accountable for the trend. The term refers to young working people aged between 28 and 40 years who decide to keep living comfortably in their parents' homes to save money. An alternative explanation is the more active participation of Japanese women in society. Increasingly more women in Japan obtain higher education degrees and focus on their career paths. With a rising income, they are financially less dependent, and marriage is no longer essential to afford the life they pursue. Delayed family planningThe overall number of newly registered marriages has also declined in the past decade. The reported number of marriages was around 474,740 in 2023, representing the sixth consecutive years below 600,000. These developments concerning marriages have also impacted the mean age of childbearing, which has risen considerably since the 1970s.

This statistic contains data on the estimated median age of Americans at their first wedding in the United States in 2021, by race and origin. In 2021, the median age for the first wedding among Asian women stood at 28.8 years.

The mean age at first marriage in Spain was, along with Sweden, one of the highest in the European Union. Based on this setup, it is no wonder that the Spanish autonomous communities featured quite elevated numbers - particularly in the Canary Islands, where the average age at first marriage stood at over 41 years old for men and over 38 for women in 2023. Easy come easy go Marriage might be undergoing a declining popularity among Spaniards, or so it would seem by its national (heterosexual) marriage figures, which have experienced a slight decrease overtime. In 2023, the Balearic Islands recording the highest numbers on the list of marriage rate in Spain, with a rate of 4.43 marriages per 1,000 people. Moreover, Spain has one of the highest divorce rates in Europe, with 85.5 divorces per 100 marriages carried out in this country in 2020. Ageing: a common problem across the continent The age at first marriage is not the only digit that is on the rise in Spain. Data related to age in the Mediterranean country essentially behaves in a similar fashion as the rest of its European counterparts, whose population is also slowly but surely getting older. In 2023, the life expectancy at birth in Spain stood at 83.77 years, one of the highest in the world.

In 2023, the median age of females at their first marriage in New Zealand was 31.8 years, significantly older than the average age of marriage in 1980. The median age of people getting married in the country has continued to increase over the past few decades, reflecting the changing societal attitudes across different generations in the country.

In 2023, the average age of men at marriage was of 34.7. For women, this value was 31.7 years. Across the period under scrutiny, the average age at marriage has experienced an upward trend for both genders.

In 2023, the average age at which men got married in Germany was just over 35. This was the highest age since 1991 when the average age was 28.5 years old. Women, on the other hand, were on average 32 years old, when they got married.

The median age for individuals getting married in Poland increased during the observed period. Both men and women married later in 2023 compared to 1980. At the same time, the age increased by nearly seven years for both genders.

In 2022, the average age of Italian women at first marriage was 33.6 years. From a regional perspective, the highest average age was recorded in Emilia-Romagna and Sardinia, where the average age of the bride reached around 35 years. Emilia-Romagna was also the region with the oldest grooms in the country. A male inhabitant of the region could get married at the average age of almost 40 years. On the contrary, women from the southern regions got married earlier, at 32.3 years. Every year less marriages Over the last decade, the marriage rate in Italy has steadily decreased. In 2006, there were about 4.2 marriages celebrated per 1,000 inhabitants, more than one wedding more in comparison with the figures from 2023. Why do not Italians get married? When asked about the cause of not getting married, about 17 percent of the Italian respondents who already lived with their partner replied that they do not believe in marriage. Roughly 25 percent of them never felt the need to walk down the aisle. On the other hand, around 31 percent of the interviewees declared that they would get married in the near future.

In Portugal, the mean age of both men and women when marrying for the first time has increased during the period considered, and men are constantly older than women on their first marriages. From 2019 to 2020, there was an increase of one year of age for both genders, the highest during this period. In 2023, the mean age at which men got married was 35.8 years, while for women it consisted in 34.3 years.

Since the mid-2000s the average age at first wedding in France increased gradually, for both men and women. It seems to be common for the first marriage to be celebrated later and later in Western countries. For example, the median age at first marriage in the United States went from 26.8 years old for males and 25 years old for females in 1997, up to 30.3 years old for males and 28.4 for females in 2019. Same thing occurred in Europe where Sweden was the country where the median age at first wedding was the oldest in 2019.

French people wait longer to marry

According to the source, in 2004, the average age at first wedding for French men was 30.8 compared to 28.8 for women. If men still tend to be older than women at first marriage, the average age at marriage for both males and females increased from 2004 to 2021. In 2021, men were aged on average 39.2 at their first wedding, compared to 36.8 for women. Most marriages in France happened between men and women despite the implementation of same-sex marriage in 2013. Mean age at gay marriages appear to be even older than in different-sex wedding.

Marriage and divorce in France

Thus, the percentage of married persons in France decreased since 2006, while the share of single and divorced people rose. However, in 2016, France was the second European country with the highest number of marriages behind Germany. On the other hand, like most other Western nations, France also has an important divorce rate. In 2016, the number of French divorces was of 55 per 100 marriages.

After increasing from 2011 to 2020, the average age of people at their first marriage fell marginally in 2021 for both men and women. However, it increased slightly again in 2022 and 2023. Men were on average older than women at their first marriage, with 36.8 years and 34.9 years respectively in 2023. Most common age at first marriage In 2022, more than 80,000 people got married in Sweden . Of these, people between 30 and 34 years made up the largest age group. Length of a marriage A marriage in Sweden lasted on average 47.3 years in 2022 if it was dissolved by death. For marriages dissolved by divorce, the average length was 12.2 years. The length of marriages dissolved by divorce increased slightly over the last 10 years, while the length of marriages dissolved by death was relatively stable.

81 percent of the Silent generation were married between the age of 23 and 38. This is true for only 44 percent of Millennials.

The average age at marriage was 39.9 years for men in Norway in 2023, and 37.3 years for women. Within the considered time frame, men were about three years older than women on average when marrying, and all in all the average age seems to increase. In 2023, the average age at marriage in Norway was about the same as in Denmark.

The average age when Hungarians got married for the first time increased for both men and women over the considered time period. In 2023, the average age for men who got married for the first time totaled 33.5 years, while women were on average 30.9 years old.

In the past 10 years, men’s average age at marriage was always higher than the average age of women's age at marriages in Denmark. In 2023, the average age was 39.8 years on average for men and 37.4 years for women.
The number of marriages in Denmark was highest in 2004 with 38,000 marriages, but has decreased since, despite increasing some years. In 2023, roughly 32,000 marriages were registered.

 Divorces 

By contrast, the number of divorces in Denmark was significantly lower than the number of marriages. In 2023, close to 13,000 divorces took place. Spouses may divorce if either or both parties do not wish to continue living together. If one does not agree to divorce, they can normally be divorced after six months of separation.

 Marital status of Danes 

Most Danes have never been married; the number of never married inhabitants amounted to approximately 2.94 millions in 2023. In this year, around 2.14 million Danes were married, while over 562,000 people were divorced.