How old will you be when you get married? A fascinating study by Legal & General shows that a majority of people think you should be married by 29 - despite the fact that the average age of a bride in the UK is 35.1, and the average age of a groom is 37.5! The survey asked 1,682 adults aged over 25 about what societal pressures they were facing, and of course, we were most interested in the statistics around marriage. Here are some more interesting finds...
The pressure to get married
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the survey found that more men feel under pressure to tie the knot than women. 11% of men currently feel pressured to get married, compared to only 4% of women. More men also felt that they should be in a relationship - 16% compared to 9% of women. However, we were also interested to read that more men considered marriage to be their most important life milestone. 9% of men said that getting married was currently their most important goal, compared to just 4% of women.Â
The region feeling the most pressured to get married is Greater London, with 14% of respondents there saying they felt it was expected of them, while Bristol is the UK city that feels the most pressure to put a ring on it (12%).Â
How important is marriage?
17% of respondents aged 25-34 said that getting married was their most important life milestone. This was more than any other age group in the survey. They're also the age group feeling the most under pressure to get married (19%).Â
The North of England clearly places the most importance on marriage. 9% of people in Yorkshire and the Humber said that getting married was currently the most important life milestone for them. That's more than any other UK region! The city that places the most importance on marriage was Sheffield - 10% of respondents living there said it was their most important milestone.Â
Social media and marriage
Whether it's Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram, there's no doubt that social media is having an effect on people's perceptions of weddings and marriage. The age group feeling most under pressure to marry is also the most impacted by marriage posts on social media. A whopping 20% of 25-34 year-olds reported that wedding posts affected them. Wedding posts also have more impact on men's (11%) perceptions of what they should be achieving than women (6%).Â
Age and marriage
The survey revealed that, on average, men think you should be married by the age of 31. By contrast, on average, women think you should be married by 29. Very interesting, considering the national averages are generally much higher than this! Worryingly, 16% of men and 16% of women answered 'never' when asked at what age do you think you should be married by!
The rest of the survey makes for interesting reading too! According to the UK public, people feel you should be married, have children, own property AND have landed their dream job by 31. Phew! Read the rest of the findings from Legal & General here.Â