Vietnam Population and AIDS Indicator Survey 2005 ... - Measure DHS

Table 3.6 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, Vietnam 2005
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Percentage of respondents that
Median
were first married by exact age: Percentage Number age at
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– never of first
Current age 15 18 20 22 25 married respondents marriage
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WOMEN
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15-24 0.5 na na na na 74.9 2,471 a
15-19 0.5 na na na na 93.8 1,359 a
20-24 0.5 10.2 30.3 na na 51.9 1,112 a
25-29 0.8 13.6 34.5 54.2 77.2 16.3 948 21.6
30-39 0.8 13.9 37.0 61.0 79.8 7.4 1,997 21.0
40-49 0.6 13.3 33.7 57.5 79.1 3.8 1,873 21.3
20-49 0.7 13.0 34.3 na na 16.0 5,930 a
25-49 0.7 13.6 35.3 58.3 79.0 7.7 4,818 21.2
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MEN
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
15-24 0.2 na na na na 89.9 2,406 a
15-19 0.2 na na na na 98.5 1,472 a
20-24 0.3 2.7 8.6 na na 76.4 934 a
25-29 0.2 2.7 11.4 25.2 51.0 32.9 902 24.9
30-39 0.6 5.4 17.4 34.5 62.2 7.4 1,718 23.6
40-49 0.1 3.3 14.3 31.6 63.1 1.7 1,680 23.8
20-49 0.3 3.8 13.8 na na 22.3 5,235 a
25-49 0.3 4.0 14.9 31.4 60.2 10.6 4,301 23.9
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na = Not applicable due to censoring
a = Omitted because less than 50 percent of the respondents married for the first time before reaching the beginning of the
age group
Unlike much of the world, age at marriage in Vietnam has not increased among women over the
last 25 years. Median age at marriage has remained at about 21 years for age cohorts 25-29 through 45-
49. Age at marriage has increased slightly over the last 25 years among men, with the median age at
marriage increasing from about 24 to 25 years of age.
Because marriage marks the point in a woman’s life at which sexual intercourse becomes socially
acceptable in Vietnam, patterns of reported age at first sexual intercourse closely mimic the patterns of
age at first marriage, as shown in Table 3.7.
32 | Characteristics of Respondents