Demographic and Health Survey 2009-10 - Timor-Leste Ministry of ...

Data by place of residence show only small differences. Polygyny ranges from a low of less
than 1 percent among women living in Manatuto and Aileu to a high of 7 percent among women who
live in Lautem.
There is an inverse relationship between education and polygyny, with the proportion of
women in a polygynous union decreasing from 3 percent among women with no education to zero
among women with more than secondary education. Differences in the prevalence of polygyny among
women in different wealth quintiles are not large.
Table 6.2 also shows the percentage of currently married men 15-49 with two or more wives,
according to background characteristics. The data indicate that less than 1 percent of men report
having two or more wives, with polygyny higher among older men, among men living in Viqueque
and Lautem, and among men with no education.
6.3 AGE AT FIRST MARRIAGE
Marriage marks the point in a woman’s life when childbearing becomes socially acceptable.
Age at first marriage has a major effect on childbearing because women who marry early have, on
average, a longer period of exposure to the risk of becoming pregnant and a greater number of lifetime
births. Information on age at first marriage was obtained by asking respondents the month and year, or
age, at which they started living with their first husband or wife.
Table 6.3 shows the percentage of women and men who have married by specific ages,
according to current age. Marriage occurs relatively early in Timor-Leste: among women age 25-49,
24 percent are married by age 18, 42 percent are married by age 20, 59 percent are married by age 22,
and 77 percent are married by age 25. The median age at (first) marriage among women age 25-49 is
Table 6.3 Age at first marriage
Percentage of women and men age 15-49 who were first married by specific exact ages and median age at
first marriage, according to current age, Timor-Leste 2009-10
Percentage
never
married Number
Median
age at first
marriage
Percentage first married by exact age:
Current age 15 18 20 22
WOMEN
25
15-19 1.4 na na na na 91.8 3,144 a
20-24 3.0 18.9 35.3 na na 51.0 2,343 a
25-29 3.6 24.2 44.2 60.7 78.1 16.6 1,897 20.6
30-34 6.3 25.8 46.6 64.4 81.3 6.7 1,534 20.4
35-39 5.0 23.7 41.4 59.3 77.1 5.1 1,684 20.9
40-44 7.2 26.8 42.4 57.8 76.2 4.0 1,388 21.0
45-49 4.8 20.1 34.6 50.3 69.3 3.2 1,146 22.0
20-49 4.8 23.0 40.6 na na 17.9 9,993 a
25-49 5.3 24.3 42.3 59.0
MEN
76.8 7.8 7,650 20.9
15-19 0.0 na na na na 99.6 994 a
20-24 0.0 3.2 9.7 na na 80.1 643 a
25-29 0.0 3.8 12.8 25.5 50.1 37.8 586 25.0
30-34 0.0 5.3 13.5 27.5 50.7 15.2 439 24.9
35-39 0.0 6.2 14.4 25.7 50.7 8.8 553 24.9
40-44 0.0 4.0 12.3 23.9 46.2 3.5 462 25.4
45-49 0.0 4.3 12.8 23.1 43.1 1.8 400 26.2
20-49 0.0 4.4 12.5 na na 28.4 3,082 a
25-49 0.0 4.7 13.2 25.2 48.5 14.8 2,440 a
30-49 0.0 5.0 13.3 25.1 47.9 7.5 1,854 25.3
Note: The age at first marriage is defined as the age at which the respondent began living with her/his first
spouse/partner
na = Not applicable due to censoring
a = Omitted because less than 50 percent of the women married for the first time before reaching the
beginning of the age group
Other Proximate Determinants of Fertility | 81