Age Gap Between Spouses in South and Southeast Asia

Abstract

Age gap between spouses has important implications on a range of outcomes—from fertility, longevity to gender relationships, marital quality, and stability. This paper examines age gap between spouses in South and Southeast Asia, two regions in Asia that have witnessed changes in marriage systems. Data from 12 countries in the two regions were analysed. The average age difference (husband’s minus wife’s age) is positive in all countries and ranges from 2.7 in Myanmar to 8.4 in Bangladesh. Age homogamous marriages accounted for 5% of all marriages in Bangladesh to close to half of all marriages in Thailand. The proportion of age hypogamous marriages was uniformly low in all the countries except for Myanmar where it reaches close to 10%. Marriage age is a significant predictor of age gap between spouses. Men’s marriage age has a stronger effect in determining the age gap compared women’s marriage age. In general, the age gap for women with lower education was larger than those with higher education. However, much of this effect was explained by the difference in marriage timing across educational groups. The results are discussed in the context of social and demographic changes in the two regions.

Keywords: marriage, age homogamy, assortative marriage, education, Asia

JEL Classification: J12