This study analyzes nuptiality patterns in three Central Asian countries—Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan—over two decades preceding and one decade following the
dissolution of the Soviet Union using census and Demographic Health Survey data. Although
marriage remained universal through the end of that period, marriage age increased and for
younger cohorts marriage rates declined considerably. Marriage age began to increase in the
years following independence and there are no signs of any reversal. Within these countries
marriage rates showed significant variation by educational achievement, and a much smaller
variation by rural-urban residence. In Kazakhstan, ethnic differences in marriage age—Russians
marrying earlier than the native Kazakhs—began to narrow. During the years of social, political
and economic turmoil that preceded and followed independence, marriage rates increased
dramatically followed by a steep decline in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan but not in Kazakhstan.
Explanations of these trends are proposed based on the literature on demographic adjustments
to social crises and the specifics of Central Asia‘s historico-cultural and socioeconomic contexts.