Amman: In a detailed analysis conducted by the Higher Population Council (HPC) in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund, recent data indicates a constancy in the matrimonial landscape of Jordan over the span from 2010 to 2022.

The study, entitled “Jordan’s Marital Dynamics: An Analysis from 2010 to 2022”, presents an array of findings that illuminate the nuances and shifts in the nation’s marital dynamics.

A pivotal revelation from the study is the pronounced decrease in marriages among relatives, now reduced to 28 percent, a figure significantly lower than the 56 percent observed in 1990.

The research further underscores a rise in the proportion of individuals who have been previously married, which currently stands at 60 percent, as inferred from the most recent household surveys and corroborated by data from the Jordanian civil registry.

In a parallel development, the incidence of women currently married in the fecund demographic has escalated to 56 percent.

The survey proffers a nuanced
view into the demographic distribution of widows and divorcees, uncovering a relatively modest divorce rate across diverse age brackets and both sexes, with a peak of 6 percent in certain female age groups and less than 4 percent among men.

A significant gender disparity is evident in widowhood, with the proportion of female widows reaching 49 percent in the over-60 demographic, in stark contrast to a mere 7 percent for their male counterparts as of 2022.

Polygamy, exhibiting variations across different governorates, shows a declining trend, with a mere 7.3 percent of married women aged 15-49 having spouses concurrently married to another woman.

This trend suggests either a diminishing prevalence of polygamy within Jordan or a propensity for men to divorce their initial spouses prior to entering subsequent marriages.

Analyzing annual marriage trends between 2015 and 2022, the study reveals that marriages involving divorced women constituted between 15 to 22 percent of the total, with the cumulative remarr
iage rate of these women reaching 18.3 percent over the eight-year period.

In 2022, the marital status of grooms in most unions predominantly involved bachelors (73 percent), followed by divorcees (18 percent), widowers (2 percent), and men in plural marriages (7 percent). Conversely, brides were primarily unmarried (77 percent), with divorced (22 percent) and widowed (1 percent) women following.

The average age for first marriages has incrementally ascended during the study period, from 26.9 to 27.3 years for males and from 22.1 to 22.7 years for females, maintaining a consistent inter-age gap of approximately five years. The research discerns no discernible decline in the overall marriage rates throughout the years under review.

The study also notes a downturn in marriages involving minors, with the proportion of females marrying under the age of 18 dwindling from a peak of 16.6 percent in 2017 to about 11.9 percent in 2022. Mafraq Governorate recorded the highest incidence of such marriages in 2022, at
21 percent.

Nonetheless, the rate of early marriage remains notably higher among Syrian women, despite its reduction, standing at 37.9 percent in 2022, juxtaposed against a rate of about 9.7 percent among Jordanian women.

Addressing prevalent social and media discourses on the subject of spinsterhood or celibacy, Issa Masarweh, Secretary-General of the HPC, elucidated that the observed increase in the number of unmarried individuals is primarily a function of the expansion in the cohort of young adults of marriageable age, rather than a decrease in the propensity to marry.

This trend is substantiated by data from the 2015 population census, the 2018 survey, and the 2022 civil registry, where this figure ascended to 60 percent.

Masarweh further clarified that the rise in the population of unmarried women is a consequence of demographic expansion, not attributable to a postponement or aversion to marriage.

He highlighted that historical trends in childbearing have resulted in a substantial population of wo
men within the marriageable and childbearing age group, currently estimated at 2.79 million (ages 15-49 years).

Therefore, irrespective of the dynamics in marriage and childbirth rates, the count of unmarried individuals and the frequency of births continue to rise annually, with approximately 2.68 million births registered between 2010 and 2022.

In addressing public curiosity regarding matrimonial unions with foreigners, the study concludes that such marriages have minimal impact on the celibacy rates among Jordanian women.

The data reveals that annually, around 5 percent of Jordanian men marry non-Jordanian women, while about 7 percent of Jordanian women enter into marriages with non-Jordanian men.
Source: Jordan News Agency