Still the 'Ireland of Asia'? Declining Female Age at Marriage in Sri Lanka

Bibliographic Data

ID2347469
AuthorsW Indralal De Silva (University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka, corresponding author)
Year2014
Volume35
Issue12
Pages1605-1623
Publication date2014-10-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Family Issues (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0192-513X • E-ISSN: 1552-5481
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0192513x14538028
OpenAlexW2171727622
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited12

Unlike the rest of South Asia, female age at marriage in Sri Lanka reached a high level of 25.5 years by 1993 and declined thereafter to 23.6 years as reported by the 2006-2007 Demographic and Health Survey. This article examines this trend and potential contributors to the trend by using data from Population Censuses and Demographic and Health Surveys. The relaxation of the marriage squeeze with the more balanced sex ratio at the turn of the present century and decline in male unemployment from mass labor migration are some factors contributing to decline in female marriage age. Increased female employment opportunities allow more young girls to accumulate money for dowry and other marriage expenses at younger ages than their older cohorts could and further contributions come from remittances from labor migrants. Changing attitudes to late marriage and government curbs on abortion services too may have contributed to the decline in female marriage age

Abortion · Biology · Demographic economics · Dowry · Economic growth · Economics · Political science · Population · Pregnancy · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Sri lanka · Unemployment · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences · Demography · Global Maternal and Child Health · Migration and Labor Dynamics

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