Marriage has the highest priority for girls in Russia, who are brought up since they are little that it is their first and foremost goal in life: To marry a good man and become a Wife and a Mother.
Statistics on the age of the first marriage in Russia
- 2017 data by the official government statistics service Rosstat shows that 33% of Russian brides get married at the age 18-25. This is the total share of all weddings, including second and third unions.
- Only 22% of officially registered marital unions in Russia have a bride aged 35+.
- 2017 survey by WCIOM shows that people in Russia believe a girl should get married by the age of 23. In fact, local men say 21 is the best age for Russian women for marriage. Young people aged 18-24 are even more inclined towards early nuptials: They think girls should wed by 20.
- Earlier 2015 research showed that the average age of first marriage for females in Russia was 24.5 years.
- 78% of all respondents think that the best way for grownups to live is in a registered marriage.
By law, people have to be 18 to apply to marry. However, it’s allowed to get married from the age of 14 in several predominantly Muslim autonomous republics of the Russian Federation, with the permission of the parents or if the bride is pregnant.
They are not allowed to drink or buy cigarettes, but they are allowed to get married.
In fact, it’s not unusual for a 21-year-old woman in Russia to have 2-3 kids. ‘The sooner the better’, many of them believe, since there are fewer males than females (86 men for 100 women), thus finding an eligible bachelor becomes much harder with age.
The drive for females to marry as virgins, popular in recent years, also contributed to the statistics of registered nuptials by age.
Age of marriage in Ukraine
In Ukraine single women over 30 are viewed as “damaged goods”. Normally girls start getting worried about not having a husband by about 27. This is also the time when their family and friends start asking them about having a family. After 30, women are being encouraged by family and friends to have a child “for themselves”, so that they don’t spend the rest of their lives alone.
While in western countries marriage is rather a private matter and you are unlikely to be pressured to get married, in Russia and Ukraine it’s something that is widely discussed. Girls are put on the spot if they are unmarried by 25-27.
This is why there are so many Russian women who list their profiles on international dating sites.
Read also:
- What is a Russian girl like?
- How much is a Ukrainian wife?
- 10 differences between dating mature Russian ladies vs. young girls
- ‘I am going to marry a Russian woman’ — A true life story
I’m absolutely agree that family and children are the most important things in the life for Ukrainian and Russian girls. I’m 22 and currently I study at university and almost all my fellow students are married and a lot of them have 1 or 2 children already. Some of them were made to marry because of the girl’s pregnancy but the majority just wanted to do it. Ukrainian and Russian girls are so eager to make a family due to their upbringing. They see the traditions and customs of their families which usually celebrate their 25-30th wedding anniversary. Their mothers… Read more »