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The Prevalence and Determinants of Remarriage in Bangladesh

Mohammad Mainul Islam

Mohammad Sazzad Hasan

Mohammad Bellal Hossain

Tehmina Ghafur

Divorce, Separation, and Remarriage: The Transformation of Family

ISBN: 978-1-78635-230-9, eISBN: 978-1-78635-229-3

Publication date: 29 September 2016

Abstract

Purpose

Studies on remarriages based on census data are not available in Bangladesh. Moreover, questions like why the remarriage rate is declining in Bangladesh despite the increasing trend of divorce rate and what factors are associated with this declining trend of remarriage are not answered yet. Thus the purpose of this study is to assess the prevalence of divorces and the extent to which this has influenced the likelihood of remarriage in Bangladesh.

Methodology/approach

Univariate, bivariate, and multivariate analyses have been performed by analyzing the most recent and largest sample census data of ever married men and women aged 10 years and above collected in 2011.

Findings

The prevalence of remarriage is low in Bangladesh but more common in rural places of residence, substantially larger in slums when compared with non-slums, among Bengali ethnic people, rent-free tenancy, the age group of 45 years and over, the male population, people of Muslim religion, who have no education, and poorest wealth quintile. Muslim religion, slum dwelling status, employed status, media exposure, and urban residence stand out as the major determinants in terms of remarriage. Women having higher education and the richest quintile of households are less likely to be remarried than those who have lower education and are from the poorest wealth quintile background. Males who remarry also followed the same pattern. But remarriage is higher among both the divorced males and females as compared to widowed males and females. Strategic targeting and responsive social policies are needed to be implemented toward the differential pattern of remarriage by sub-groups of the population and their vulnerabilities in relation to their marital status and marital relation, to understand remarriage dynamics in Bangladesh.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), Statistics and Information Division, Ministry of Planning, Government of Bangladesh for giving us an opportunity to contribute in the Population Monograph: Volume-13 entitled on Trends, Patterns and Determinants of Marriage in Bangladesh, November 2015. Here it can be noted that all the authors listed for this book chapter were the contributors of that monograph.

Citation

Islam, M.M., Hasan, M.S., Hossain, M.B. and Ghafur, T. (2016), "The Prevalence and Determinants of Remarriage in Bangladesh", Divorce, Separation, and Remarriage: The Transformation of Family (Contemporary Perspectives in Family Research, Vol. 10), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 395-413. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1530-353520160000010016

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited