Sunday, the Jordanian Women's Solidarity Institute ‘Tadamon’ indicated that the percentage of those over 35 years of age in Jordan who have never been married is 6.5 percent, totaling 197,500 people.

By gender, 8.5 percent of the females over the age of 35 have never been married (119,900 women), compared to 4.8 percent of males in the same age bracket who are unmarried (77,600 men).

The Department of Statistics (DoS) announced that those aged 35 and over in Jordan reached 3.027 million by the end of 2018, and constituted 29.4 percent of the total population of 10.309 million. By gender, 1.411 million females (46.6 percent) are over the age of 35 years or over compared to 1.616 million males (53.4 percent).

In Jordan, the average age for first marriages is 26.6 years for females and 31.3 years for males, according to Tadamon indicators at the end of 2019.

The overall average age for first marriage in Jordan until the end of 2019 was 29.2 years for both genders, but is higher for males (31.3 years) in comparison to females (26.6 years).

Tadamon found that the high rates of poverty and unemployment between males and females; the weak economic participation of women; and the demographic and social changes have all contributed, in one way or another, to the reluctance of young men and women to marry.

The high rates of girls' education in Jordan indicate that parents now prefer to postpone the marriage of their daughters until the completion of their education.

Average age for first marriages by governorates:

Amman was the highest among the governorates in the average age of females at the time of first marriage, reaching 27.7 years, while Ma'an was the lowest at 25.3 years. Balqa had the highest average age of males between the governorates at the time of first marriages, reaching 32.3 years, with Mafraq having the lowest at 29.4 years.

Ajloun had the highest percentage of females aged 35 years and over who had never been married, at 12.6 percent of the total number of females in the governorate, while Aqaba had the lowest at 2.8 percent.

Madaba had the highest percentage of males aged 35 years and over who had never been married, reaching 5.9 percent, while Mafraq was the lowest, with only 2.5 percent of males.

The Kingdom witnessed a decrease in registered marriage contracts in 2019, to approach 2011 levels:

During 2019, 67,696 marriage contracts were recorded, decreasing by 4.3 percent in comparison to the previous year. In 2018, 70,734 contracts were recorded, which is a decrease of nine percent or 6,966 contracts compared to 2017 (77,700). This value decreased by 3,643 contracts, or 4.7 percent compared to 2016, which totaled to 81,343 contracts.

In 2015 there were 81,373 marriage contracts, 81,209 in 2014, 72,860 contracts in 2013, 70,400 in 2012, and 64,257 in 2011.

Tadamon indicated that the decline in marriage contracts in 2019 caused the rates to approach the levels for 2011. This confirms the existence of serious issues that require rapid and effective action, they added, especially when they are linked to unprecedented levels of poverty, unemployment, and demographic and social changes.

The number of births in 2019 is the lowest since 2015, and the number of deaths continue to rise:

The number of registered births during 2019 decreased by five percent compared to 2018, as in 2019 there were about 197,300  births, while in 2018 there were 207,900 recorded births. In 2017, there were 211,400 births, while in 2016 there were 197,800, and 198,000 in 2015.

During the year 2019, about 29,800 deaths were recorded, compared to 27,800 deaths in 2018, an increase of 6.7 percent.

Tadamon noted that registered births decreased during the year 2019 by about 10,600 births, while recorded deaths increased to nearly 2,000. In other words, registered births decreased at a rate of 29 births per day, and recorded deaths increased daily at a rate of 5.5 deaths.