London - The majority of young people leaving university want to get married and start a family within a decade, a study revealed.
Interviews with 1 423 students found 64 percent of women thought it was important to get married, and 50 percent of men.
The report, published by insurance company Endsleigh, said that, on average, women graduates expected to move in with a long-term boyfriend by the age of 25, to be fully established in a career at 27, to marry at 28, buy a home at 29 and have a child at 30.
For men, the average timetable is cohabit at 26, have a career on track by 28, own a home and married at 30, and have a child at 32.
The aspiration to marry among students about to graduate comes at a time when projections by the Marriage Foundation think-tank show that around half of all 20-year-olds are expected never to marry at all.
In real life, the Office for National Statistics has suggested many young people are putting off marriage and having children because of the pressure to earn money.
Women marry on average at the age of 30, and while the typical age for a first baby is 28.3, many are delaying having children until their late 30s and even their 40s.
Official figures show that people from the highest income bracket are 48 percent more likely to marry than those from the lowest, with students likely to come from higher-income families. Julia Alpan from Endsleigh said: “University leavers are clearly ambitious in their hopes and expectations for the future.” - Daily Mail