The median age at which brides married in 1997 increased over the figure from the preceding year, continuing a trend that has been in effect for more than a decade (Table MD1). The median age at which grooms married also continued its gradually increasing trend. In 1997, the mid-point for brides' ages was 29.0 years and that for males who married in 1997 was 31.0 years.

The median age at first marriage is younger than the median age at marriage for both brides and grooms, but these median ages have also been increasing over the past few decades. With the exception of a temporary reversal of the trend in 1990, the median ages of brides and grooms have steadily increased over the decade. From 1996 to 1997, the median age for first-time brides increased slightly from 27.0 to 27.1 years. First-time grooms experienced an increase in median age from 28.5 to 28.8 over the year (Figure MD1 and Table MD2).

In 1997, fewer than one-third of women marrying for the first time were under 25 years of age (31.0%). This is in sharp contrast to the 47.5 percent of first-time brides in 1988 who were less than 25 years old (Table MD3). Only 19.5 percent of first-time grooms in 1997 were under 25 years, compared to 30.8 percent in 1988. The percentages of brides and grooms marrying for the first time under the age of 25 have decreased steadily over the past decade as had the percentages of both brides and grooms who were under the age of 20 at the time of first marriage (Table MD3 and Figure MD2). However, in 1997, the trends for both brides and grooms reversed and the percentages of first marriages under the age of 20 rose to 5.1 and 1.7, respectively.

Table MD4 is a distribution of brides' ages by grooms' ages for 1997 marriages, in detailed age categories.