Changing marriage patterns in Asia

Gavin W. Jones, National University of Singapore

Universal marriage (often defined as fewer than 5% remaining never married by age 45-49) characterized almost all of Asia until recently. This has changed dramatically, not only in the most economically advanced countries of East and Southeast Asia, but also in some much poorer countries in various regions of Asia. The wide diversity of cultures and economies across Asia means that there are notable inter-regional and inter-country differences in the prevalence of arranged versus love marriages (and the continuum between these), the extent to which age at marriage has risen, typical age differences between spouses, the extent of consanguineous marriage and rates of divorce. The paper will provide a summary of the changes that have been taking place, venture some possible explanations for these changes, and discuss some of their consequences.