The analysis of marital status and nuptiality is important in helping us to understand the dynamics of a society and how it changes over time. Marriage is an important factor in regard to fertility, especially in Rwanda where thelarge majority of children are born in wedlock.

The results of the Fourth Rwanda Population and Housing Census (RPHC4) show that nearly half of the population aged 12 and above is married. However, between 1978 and 2012 the percentage of married people has decreased.

Women get married earlier than men; between the ages of 20 and 24 one woman in three is already married compared to less than one in five men. The average age at first marriage is 25 for women and 27 for men. Both

men and women marry later than before and the age at first marriage has increased continuously over the last three decades. In 1978, the average man got married at 25 and the average woman at 21.