Israeli’s are still one of the youngest nations in the Western world to get married, with a new study showing women settling down at 24 and men tying the knot around 27.
Whilst still considered younger compared to the national averages of the UK (31 for men) and US (29 for men, 27 for women), the study shows that army service, university study and the desire to travel have caused Israelis to settle down a bit later in life.
At the other end is Chad, Nigeria and Mozambique where the average marriage age is 19 years old (Source: World Atlas)
Religious motives
The more religious groups in Israel, including charediim and ultra orthodox are likely to get married as early as 18, even whilst they are typically studying in Yeshiva colleges. They will typically find a partner through a match-making service or introducer known as a Shadchan.
Religious couples will start having children from a young age, often still in their teens, where having 8 to 10 children is typical.
Data from Divorce Bob showed that orthodox communities had the lowest divorce rates, ranging from 2% to 5% in areas such as Rechasim, Elad, Betar Ilit and Modi’in Ilit.
Army delays
For the more secular communities, the obligatory army service can delay marriage as the years of 18 to 21 are spent doing army service.
After this point, some young Israelis may decide to continue serving in the army, begin study or travel abroad to ‘cool off’ with places such as India, Thailand and South America usually on the bucket list.
Travel and study
Once Israelis have taken time to travel and study, it is typical to be working full-time by their late 20s or even early 30s. Hence, it is commonplace for Israelis to get married whilst still in school or doing university vocations or training.
It is common for Israelis to take even more time off after army service to burn off some steam, working abroad in clothes shops, restaurants, cafes, bars and other laid-back shift work.
Whilst getting married at 24 and 27 is still relatively young by western cultures, the gap is widening as young people wish to explore more work and travel options abroad. With the religious sects still keeping the averages low, and because they are numerous, the average age falls somewhere in between 24 and 27, but in fact, the numbers may be more truly represented by a lot of people getting married at 18 and 30, but the average falls in between.