An East–West dichotomy? Shifting marriage age patterns in Taiwan and Sweden over two centuries

Abstract

ABSTRACT Age at marriage varies greatly over time and between places. This study examines changes in age differences between spouses, as well as age at marriage, over 200 years in Taiwan and Sweden. Changes across vastly different socioeconomic and demographic contexts are explored in these two different kinship and marriage systems. Five different data sources are used to create micro-level data on spousal age differences for Swedish marriages formed between 1830 and 2006 and for Taiwanese ones that occurred between 1870 and 2015. The findings reveal two clearly distinct marriage systems that converge in some ways over time but remain divergent in other aspects. Since the 19th century Sweden has had a population that marries much later in life, when compared to Taiwan, though the pace of marriage postponement in Taiwan has made the age profiles of contemporary married couples appear more similar to those of their Swedish counterparts. In addition, the distribution of ages at marriage has also become more dispersed in the contemporary than in the historical period for both countries. While age at marriage varied greatly over the two centuries, this study puts particular emphasis on how age at marriage for both men and women interacts with age differences between spouses. Findings revealed a gendered age preference in both Taiwan and Sweden, and how this has changed over time with rising female status and development. In contrast to shrinking age differences in Taiwan over one and a half centuries, average age differences in Sweden remained relatively constant, with the dispersion of age differences following a U-shaped pattern and reaching a minimum in around 1970.