Permanent Celibacy and Late Marriage in the Netherlands, 1890-1960

Demographers usually assume that the proportion never marrying and age at marriage vary together, since permanent celibacy is held to be merely the consequence of delayed marriage. By observing a representative sample extracted from the cohorts born between 1890 and 1909 in the Netherlands, Theo ENGELEN and Jan KOK show that this is not always the case. In thefirst half of the twentieth century, very high levels of permanent celibacy coexisted with early age at marriage among children of the upper social classes and in certain religious groups. Moreover, in the eastern regions of the country, marriage occurred later but no less frequently than elsewhere. Using individual data drawn from civil registration sources and population registers, the authors explore the cultural, social and economic factors that help to explain this uncommon dissociation between the two forms of marriage restraint.