Late marriage and non-marriage as demographic responses: Are they similar?

Summary

Late marriage and non-marriage are generally treated as similar demographic responses because they are highly correlated in cross-national comparisons. Theoretical considerations of social, economic, and demographic factors promoting delayed marriage on a national level also suggest that the same factors should cause high proportions of men and women to remain unmarried. An analysis of two deviant cases in which the proportions remaining unmarried are significantly lower (Japan) and higher (Ireland) than expected on the basis of the timing of marriages leads to a reformulation of the theory of determinants of the timing and prevalence of nuptiality.

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Notes on contributors

Ruth B. Dixon

This paper was written in honour of Professor Kingsley Davis as part of a collection prepared by his former students. I am greatly indebted to Professors William Petersen and Lincoln Day for their perceptive criticism of an earlier version