In most comparative studies of nuptiality it has been usual to characterize sub-Saharan patterns of marriage as" early and universal." This categorical generalization was shown to be inadequate in the now classic study of van de Walle (1968), which used the then somewhat underweight body of available census and survey data to rigorously examine this accepted opinion. The pioneering work of van de Walle has been taken up and expanded in this chapter.

Although the starting pattern of procreation is not the most significant Malthusian preventive check on population growth in sub-Saharan Africa, it is still worth noting the range of the mean age at first marriage for women, which was found to vary between 15 and 21 years. Such a discrepancy in the average ages of entry into a first sexual union between African populations must have some implications. Interestingly, the Northwest European marriage pattern, first described by Hajnal (1965), of late age at marriage with neolocal, nuclear household formation, exhibits a similar range for mean ages at first marriage among historical European populations. At the very least, the presence of a similar variation in sub-Saharan Africa requires an explanation and it is surprising that there is such a paucity of systematic statistical analysis addressing this problem. At present, most African countries have been covered by at least one census or large-scale survey, and hence it is due time to reopen the African nuptiality file on ethnic and regional variation.