Islamabad: Gallup Pakistan Digital Analytics analyzed microdata from the Pakistan Demographic and Health Surveys (PDHS) 1990-91 and 2017-18 to examine how key milestones in women's reproductive lives have shifted over nearly three decades.
The data show a modest delay in both marriage and the start of childbearing. The median age at first marriage increased from 18.0 years in 1990-91 to 19.0 years in 2017-18, while the median age at first birth rose from 20.0 to 21.0 years.
The median age at last birth also declined, from 36.2 to 33.8 years. This is a reduction of 2.4 years, but it still indicates that many women continue having children into their mid-30s.
The one-year increase in both first marriage and first birth suggests gradual change in the timing of family formation. Pakistani women are, on average, marrying and entering motherhood slightly later than they did in 1990-91.
Using the difference between median age at first and last birth as a simple descriptive indicator, the childbearing span declined from approximately 16.2 years in 1990-91 to 12.8 years in 2017-18.
This is a meaningful reduction, but the span remains long. Women continue to begin childbearing in their early twenties and, at the median, have their last birth in their mid-30s.
A prolonged reproductive period can be associated with more pregnancies over the life course and a greater likelihood of births at older maternal ages. However, these figures alone do not tell us about birth spacing, total fertility or individual pregnancy risk; those outcomes require separate analysis.
The broader picture is one of gradual rather than dramatic change. Marriage and motherhood are beginning slightly later, and the end of childbearing has shifted earlier, but Pakistan's reproductive transition remains incomplete.
This analysis was conducted by Gallup Pakistan using microdata from the Pakistan Demographic and Health Surveys 1990-91 and 2017-18, conducted by the National Institute of Population Studies. Median age at first marriage and first birth is reported for women aged 25-49, while median age at last birth is reported for women aged 40-49 with at least one child, following standard DHS conventions.
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