The average age at first marriage in OECD countries increased to 32 for women and 34 for men by 2021, reflecting a trend of delayed marriages. The mean age of marriage rose six years since 1990.

In 1990, 9.3 marriages occurred per every 1000 people in South Korea. In 2020, only 4.2 marriages were occurring per every 1000 people in South Korea. This means the marriage rate decreased by 55% in the span of 30 years.  Additionally, South Korea has the lowest fertility rates in the world.

taly had the lowest marriage rate in 2020, with only 1.6 marriages occurring per every 1000 people. There was a steep decline over a short timeframe. In 2010, there were 3.7 marriages per 1000 people in Italy, and in 2019 there were 3.1 marriages per 1000 people. This means, in the space of one year (from 2019 to 2020), Italy saw a 48% decline in crude marriage rates.

Studies show that many young adults delay or avoid marriage due to concerns about their financial readiness, career priorities, and fear of divorce. Many believe that social media plays a large role in hesitation to marry, because people are more likely to hear and see negative aspects of marriage and beginning a family being projected online.

“Marriage is positively associated with greater community involvement across a range of different activities. In our surveys, there is a substantial divide in community activities between married and unmarried adults. This is not just an artifact of age or education differences either. Married adults between the ages of 25 to 49 are far more likely to attend a community meeting, do local volunteer work, and visit a library. They talk to new people in their communities more often as well. Even controlling for age, race, education, and gender, marriage is positively associated with more frequent participation in a variety of community activities. Simply put, married people are more active participants in American civic life.”

In the aftermath of World War II, the world realized that there needed to be a standard put in place to protect human rights. A drafting committee, chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt, wrote The Universal Declaration of Human Rights from 1946-1948. The document contains 30 articles that outline universal, inherent, inalienable, indivisible and interdependent rights which all humans have. Article 18 outlines religious freedom.