Marriage rates are declining: Is this related to the rising cost of starting a family?

The number of marriages is decreasing: is this related to creating a family becoming more expensive?

In Uzbekistan, 267.1 thousand marriages were registered in 2025. This is 44.3 thousand fewer than the peak figure of 311.4 thousand in 2018. The number of marriages has been decreasing every year after 2021: 296.7 thousand marriages were registered in 2022, 283.8 thousand in 2023, and 271.8 thousand in 2024. In 2025, this figure dropped to 267.1 thousand.

According to data from the National Statistics Committee, this is a continuation of the steady declining trend of recent years.

However, the decrease in the number of marriages does not mean that young people no longer want to create a family or that all of them are delaying getting married. To understand the reasons for this, alongside marriage statistics, it is also necessary to consider people's economic capabilities, housing conditions, and views on family.

The number of marriages is decreasing, but is the age of getting married rising?

To test the assumption about delaying family creation, one can look at the average age of those marrying for the first time. According to the National Statistics Committee, in 2025, the average age of men marrying for the first time in Uzbekistan was 25.6, and for women, it was 21.4 years. In 2024, this figure was 26.2 for men and 21.8 for women. This means that in the last year, the average age of first marriage did not increase; on the contrary, it decreased slightly.

This is an important difference. The decrease in the total number of marriages and changes in the age of getting married are not the same process. Also, a decrease in the average age in a single year does not fully represent a long-term trend.

The number of marriages can also be affected by the age structure of the population, labor migration, the duration of education, and other demographic factors. For this reason, drawing a definitive conclusion about young people's attitude toward family based solely on the overall figure would not be correct.

In Uzbekistan, it is difficult to view marriage merely as the decision of two people to live together. In many cases, this decision is also tied to the wedding ceremony, its costs, and social obligations to relatives.