Socio-Economic and Demographic Factors Affecting Age at First Marriage among Females in South Africa

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to identify the socio-economic and demographic factors affecting age at first marriage among women in South African. The data used is drawn from the 2003 South African Demographic and Health Survey. Univariate, bivariate and Cox regression were employed to examine the relationship between age at first marriage and socio-economic and demographic factors. Marriage in South Africa takes place late, with the mean age at marriage above 30 years. The findings from the Cox-regression analysis indicates that age, education, population group, age at first intercourse and age at first birth are significantly associated with early marriage while wealth status and childhood place of residence are associated with late marriage. The risk of first marriage was 58 percent lower for women with higher educational attainment compared to women with no education. Policy implications of the study are discussed. One such implication is to promote family life education across all population groups.