The Marriage Market and Tajik Armed Conflict

This paper explores the relationship between the 1992-1998 armed conflict in Tajikistan, sex ratios and the age at first marriage for women. The findings suggest that there is substantial and robust negative effect of temporal and regional exposure to armed conflict on entry into their first marriages by females in Tajikistan. Women born in 1975- 1983, who lived in the conflict affected areas were about 30 percent less likely to enter marriage than women of the same age from the lesser affected regions. The period and region specific sex ratio has little effect on the age when women first marry. This limited effect of sex ratios in Tajikistan could be explained by the adherence to traditional marriage practices when grooms and brides are often related by a common ancestor and arranged marriage is a norm.