1807 to 1814; in 1816 it rose to 1,02 per cent, and during the
entire period from 1816 to 1826, it remained very high. After a
fall in the succeeding period, it attained, during the very good business
year of 1854, a new maximum of 0.86 per cent, a figure
which has not since been reached. The average for the years
1891—1895 was 0.65 per cent.
Compared with conditions elsewhere in Europe, the number
of marriages in our country is small. Eor the years 1881—1890,
the number per 100 inhabitants for all Europe was calculated
to be 0.80, Eastern Europe being 0.89 and Western Europe 0.74 ;
Sweden 0.63, Denmark 0.73, Germany 0.78, while Servia appears
with a maximum of 1.11 per cent.
With regard to the frequency of marriages, there is some
difference between towns and rural districts, the number of marriages
in Norway, as elsewhere, being relatively larger in the former. This
has been more marked during the last 50 years, as the relative
number of marriages in the country, owing to the continual
migration of young men and women to the towns, has diminished
more than in the towns. This will be better seen from the following,
table, showing the frequency of marriages from 1846 to 1895.
The
Kingdom
■ Rural
Districts Towns
1846—1855-..................................... 0.78 0.77 0.85
1856—1865 ............................................... 0.72 0.71 0.81
1866—1875. 1 .. . . :..................... 0.68 .0.66 0.78
1876—1885. . . . . . . . . 0.69 0.67 0.78
. 0.64, ^ 0.59 0.80
As there are considerably more women than men in Norway,
it follows that a relatively larger number of women remain unmarried,
or in other words, that the frequency of marriages is
rather greater in the case of men than of women.
If the number of marriages in Norway is comparatively small
when compared with several other countries, this is due partly to
an age-classification of the population that is unfavourable to this
state -¡¡Sthe quota of marriageable men and women being comparatively
small —, and partly to the fact that in Norway, as in the other Scandinavian
countries, marriages are generally contracted at a later age
than in Europe generally, a circumstance which is partly due to the
slower physical development of Northmen generally, but also has
various other reasons. In all the age-classes up to 30, therefore,
there is a comparatively greater number of unmarried men and
women in the Scandinavian countries than elsewhere in Europe.
I n this, however, a change Sets in in the succeeding age-classes,
so that the number of married men from their 35th year, and of
women from their 40th year, is-comparatively larger than in most
European countries.
The average age in Norway, in 1881-^1885, for entering the
state of matrimony was 30.25. for men, end 27.07 for women. In
Sweden the corresponding ages (1882-—1886) were 30.40 and 27.80,
in Denmark (1880—1884) 30.10 and 27.20, and in France 29.60 and
25.40 respectively. Thus the average difference in age between bride
and bridegroom in Norway was 3.20 years, in Sweden 2.60, in
Denmark 2.90 and in France 4.20.
.The percentage for the years 1887-B1891 of men who married
before the age of 25 was — according to Homo 9 in Norway 28.30,
Sweden 26.80, Denmark 25.20, France 26.50, England 45.50 and
Russia 66.10.
The following percentage of women entering the state of
matrimony during the same period, were under 25 years of age:
in Norway 47.10, Sweden 42.40, Denmark 46.50, France 62.70, England
60.70, and Russia 85.80.
With regard to the civil standing of the persons married, it
is to he, remarked that out of 100 marriages' during the years
1866—4885, 85 were between bachelors and spinsters, a proportion
which is still in all essentials correct, and which exhibits a certain
increase from the period 1841—1865, when the percentage of this
kind of union was a little below 83 per cent. On the other hand,
the number of marriages between bachelors and widows, exhibits
a marked falling-off in the corresponding period. Marriages between
widowers and widows are also fewer in number. The number of
unions between widowers and spinsters does- not amount to quite
10 per cent of all the marriages, and seems to have undergone no
change during the last 50 years. Marriages contracted by widowers
with widows in Norway, occupy, as regards their frequency, an
average position among the countries of Europe.
When considered in comparison with the bachelors, the widowers
in all age-classes in Norway,-: contract marriages more frequently