ukfireball
12-12-2003, 09:04 AM
This YM/OW report was on TV this morning, seems like we are not a minority at all. . . . <BR>
<B>By Sarah Womack, Telegraph, Social Affairs Correspondent
(Filed: 12/12/2003)</B>
More women are marrying younger men than ever before, a study showed yesterday.
The figure has almost doubled to 26 per cent in 25 years among men marrying for the first time. Among women marrying for the first time, the proportion has risen from 13 per cent to 20 per cent.
More than half of the marriages involve age differences of more than five years, the study by the Office for National Statistics showed.
Examples include the actress Gwyneth Paltrow, 31, who married Chris Martin, 26, last week. The actress Emma Thompson, 44, is married to Greg Wise, 37, and Madonna's husband, Guy Ritchie, 35, is 10 years her junior.
One of the reasons for the trend is that older women who want children are attracted to younger, healthy males, statisticians say. Women in their thirties and forties are also more emotionally independent, economically secure and enjoy their sexuality more. Men in their twenties and early thirties find these qualities very attractive.
The social implications of the change are significant.
Until now, the assumption that wives are a few years younger than their husbands has dictated how governments reach economic decisions. The five-year gap between the retirement age of men and women is one result.
But in 2020, when the state pension age is equalised at 65, many women will reach retirement before their husbands.
The report also shows a shift away from marrying before the age of 30.
In 1963, 77 per cent of men and 84 per cent of women were married by their 30th birthday. Now only 43 per cent of men and 55 per cent of women are married by that age.
A spokesman for the Office of National Statistics said: "It may be that age is less important to people. The man does not have to be older to give the woman status or financial security. Marriage is more of an equal partnership."
<B>By Sarah Womack, Telegraph, Social Affairs Correspondent
(Filed: 12/12/2003)</B>
More women are marrying younger men than ever before, a study showed yesterday.
The figure has almost doubled to 26 per cent in 25 years among men marrying for the first time. Among women marrying for the first time, the proportion has risen from 13 per cent to 20 per cent.
More than half of the marriages involve age differences of more than five years, the study by the Office for National Statistics showed.
Examples include the actress Gwyneth Paltrow, 31, who married Chris Martin, 26, last week. The actress Emma Thompson, 44, is married to Greg Wise, 37, and Madonna's husband, Guy Ritchie, 35, is 10 years her junior.
One of the reasons for the trend is that older women who want children are attracted to younger, healthy males, statisticians say. Women in their thirties and forties are also more emotionally independent, economically secure and enjoy their sexuality more. Men in their twenties and early thirties find these qualities very attractive.
The social implications of the change are significant.
Until now, the assumption that wives are a few years younger than their husbands has dictated how governments reach economic decisions. The five-year gap between the retirement age of men and women is one result.
But in 2020, when the state pension age is equalised at 65, many women will reach retirement before their husbands.
The report also shows a shift away from marrying before the age of 30.
In 1963, 77 per cent of men and 84 per cent of women were married by their 30th birthday. Now only 43 per cent of men and 55 per cent of women are married by that age.
A spokesman for the Office of National Statistics said: "It may be that age is less important to people. The man does not have to be older to give the woman status or financial security. Marriage is more of an equal partnership."