ABSTRACT
Africa suffers from a registration system with incomplete vital statistics. The recent surveys and censuses in Africa collect information on individual characteristics, fertility, employment, migration, mortality, and household characteristics. These African censuses also provide information on nuptiality, now readily available to researchers through IPUMS-International. Despite the regular collection of demographic data in Africa using censuses, mainly since the 1990s, little has been done in studying nuptiality patterns at the continental level. Therefore, the study of nuptiality has been dominated by the period approach, such that most nuptiality research has focused on fertility, mortality, and, to a lesser extent, migration. This chapter reiterates the already known theoretical issues related to marriage patterns in Africa. However, the analysis more importantly presents the possibility of using census data and statistical and demographic methods for population research. This research and analyses improve our understanding of marriage patterns and dynamics in Africa.
