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Sexual and Reproductive Health of Adolescents and Youths in Malaysia
marriages, such as civil and registered
marriages, religious marriages, customary
weddings and common law marriages.
Under the Malaysian Shari’ah law (for
Muslims), the minimum age for marriage
for women is 16 years and for men it is
18 years. Under the Civil Marriages law
(for non-Muslims), the minimum age at
first marriage for both women and men
is 18 years of age.
The mean age at first marriage has
increased. From below 20 in 1970 it rose
to 23.3 years in 1990. In 1984, it was
26.9 years for men and 24.5 years for
women, increasing to 28 years for men
and 24.9 years for women in 1994. The
change in mean age at first marriage for
the three major ethnic groups in the last
five decades is shown in Figure 8. An
increase in age at first marriage was
observed among all ethnic groups, with
Chinese women marrying much later
than Malays or Indians. The interethnic
differential was greatest in the 1950s and
for the 15-19 year-old cohort. While the
same trend was observed for the older
cohort, the interethnic difference was
less dramatic. Age at first marriage was
also higher in urban areas.
The overall trend in age at first marriage
may be explained by a multitude of
factors, but rapidly expanding
Figure 7: Percentage of male and female population (15-24 years old) ever married in 1970, 1980 and 1991
Source: Population Census Report 1970, 1980, 1991. Department of Statistics, Malaysia.
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