A PROBABILITY MODEL FOR AGE AT MARRIAGE

Female age at marriage is of a great importance due to its direct relationship with the level of fertility in the developing countries where the contraceptive use rate is low. Study of age at marriage in any population is of immense importance due to its strong association with social, economic and demographic changes in the population. In most societies, family building occurs mainly after marriage and fertility is strongly related to the length of exposure within the state of reproductive period as married life. Age at marriage is also an important indicator of female’s status, because of its role in determining the fertility level, improving females and its child health, and enhancing female’s status by enhancing her educational level. In the present study, a probability model for age at marriage has been discussed. The data set for the study has been taken from a primary survey of flood prone area of north eastern Bihar. Results show that Negative binomial distribution explains the variability of age at marriage of the area satisfactorily well.