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Ministry of Health
TABLE 48
MARRIAGES BY AGE OF BRIDE AND GROOM
BRITISH COLUMBIA, 1998

Age of Bride Age of Groom (inYears) Total
(inYears) <15 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-59 60+ N.S. Number Percent
<15 - - - - - - - - - - - - -
15-19 - 82 332 112 26 8 2 3 - - - 565 2.6
20-24 - 45 2,008 1,983 516 135 35 17 6 2 - 4,747 21.8
25-29 - 12 508 3,095 1,842 614 174 59 34 2 - 6,340 29.2
30-34 - 1 82 702 1,470 1,026 417 145 59 13 1 3,916 18.0
35-39 - - 13 109 477 736 501 222 159 20 1 2,238 10.3
40-44 - - 5 26 117 280 425 356 284 42 - 1,535 7.1
45-49 - - - 5 32 79 160 270 362 88 - 996 4.6
50-59 - - - 3 2 22 56 118 410 319 - 930 4.3
60+ - - - - - 4 - 7 34 434 - 479 2.2
N.S. - - - 1 2 - - - - - - 3 -
TOTAL - 140 2,948 6,036 4,484 2,904 1,770 1,197 1,348 920 2 21,749  
Percent - 0.6 13.6 27.8 20.6 13.4 8.1 5.5 6.2 4.2 -   100.0

Note: N.S. - Not stated.

HIGHLIGHTS TO TABLE 48
  • Marriages where either the bride or groom was under 20 years of age accounted for one out of every thirty-five marriages (623) in 1998. Among these marriages, there were only 82 where both the bride and groom were teenagers.

  • Out of approximately every 100 brides:

    • 3 were aged 15-19 (565)
    • 51 were aged 20-29 (11,087)
    • 28 were aged 30-39 (6,154)
    • 12 were aged 40-49 (2,531)
    • 4 were aged 50-59 (930)
    • 2 were aged 60 or older (479)

  • Out of approximately every 100 grooms:

    • 1 was aged 15-19 (140)
    • 41 were aged 20-29 (8,984)
    • 34 were aged 30-39 (7,388)
    • 14 were aged 40-49 (2,967)
    • 6 were aged 50-59 (1,348)
    • 4 were aged 60 or older (920)

  • Out of every 100 marriages in 1998 (comparing age groups of the bride and groom):

    • 46 marriages involved grooms that were older than their brides (9,915)
    • 41 marriages involved brides and grooms in the same age group (8,930)
    • 13 marriages involved brides that were older than their grooms (2,899)

  • The average ages of brides and grooms, for first and later marriages combined, have been climbing steadily over the last two decades. In 1998, grooms were 34.4 years old, on average, while brides were 31.6 years old. Further information is presented in Table 5/Figure 7.