There is no doubt that this is
progressively towards a delay in marriage. We have only to study the
facts amongst primitive races, and in low forms of civilization, to see
that increase in civilization involves, amongst other things, increasing
age at marriage. In his book, "The Nature of Man," Professor Metchnikoff
quotes some statistics, now very nearly fifty years old, showing the age
at first marriage in various European countries. The figure for England
was nearly 26 for males and 24.6 for females; in France, Norway,
Holland, and Belgium the figures for both sexes were considerably
higher, the average age in Belgium being very nearly 30 for men and more
than 28 for women. In England the age has been rising for many years
past, and probably stands now at about 28 for men and 26 for women. It
need hardly be pointed out that this increase in the age of marriage is
one of the factors in the fall of the birth-rate, which is general
throughout the leading countries of the world, proceeding now with great
rapidity even in Germany.
On the whole, it is further true that the marriage age rises as we
ascend from lower to higher classes within a given civilization, though
a very select class among the wealthy offer an exception to this.
Now nothing is more familiar to us all than that there is a disharmony,
as Professor Metchnikoff puts it, between these ages for marriage and
the age at which the development of the racial instinct is unmistakable
and parenthood is indeed possible.
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