The average age of marriage among women in the UAE is between 25 and 29 years old, while that for men is 30-34, with differences according to educational level and in urban and rural areas, says a report of a family health study prepared by the UAE Ministry of Health, cited by the Khaleej Times.
The study involved 12,139 men and 12,921 women. It showed that 68 percent of women get married by the age of 25-29 while the rate increased to 83 percent by the age of 34.
At the age of 39 for women the married percentage reached its highest of 88 percent, while the highest rate of married men came at the age of 55 with 98.4 percent, says the report.
There is also a positive relationship between education and the age of marriage. For women, the rate of marriage in the age group 15-19 decreased from 61 percent among illiterate women to 27 percent among those with incomplete primary education, and only seven percent among those with primary or more schooling.
Concerning differences between urban and rural areas, the study showed that women in rural areas were married at relatively younger ages than those in urban areas.
In addition, marriage among relatives was common in the country, as 40 percent of married women under 50 years reported having blood relations with their husbands, including 24 per cent first cousins and 16 per cent other levels of blood relation.
Married women under 50 who had at least one co-wife represented 14.5 percent of the total married women, including about three per cent who had two or three co-wives and nearly 12 percent who had one co-wife.
The population of the seven-emirate federation was estimated at 2,377,453 in 1995 – Albawaba.com
