Trend of age at first marriage of women in Tehran province, Iran and its comparison with the national trend, based on the Health and Disease Survey

The present article attempts to define the current trend for age at first marriage, based on the nationwide Health Survey of 1999 and using the Brass model. The national Health survey was conducted in 1999 and involved 1/1000 of the total population, selected via cluster sampling (clusters of 8 households each).The sample used for the present study consisted of 16000 women aged 15-49, including 3026 women in Tehran province. Variables used for analysis were current age, marital status, age at first marriage and residential area (urban/rural). The mean age at first marriage for married women was 17.8 years (sd=3.7) for the whole country, and 18.2 years (sd=3.7) for Tehran province. The Brass model fitted to the data revealed a significant decreasing trend for the proportion of married women in all age groups, especially in the 15-19 year-old category. This obviously indicates an upward trend for age at first marriage.