A Lady's Chance of Marrying

From Houghtalings Handbook ©1887

Every woman has some chance of marry, it may be one to fifty, or it may be ten to one that she will. Representing her entire chance at one hundred at certain points of her progress in time it is found to be in the following ratio:
Between the ages of 15 and 20 years . . . . 14 1/2 per cent.
Between the ages of 20 and 25 years . . . . 52 per cent.
Between the ages of 25 and 30 years . . . . 18 per cent.
Between the ages of 30 and 35 years . . . . 15 1/2 per cent.
Between the ages of 35 and 40 years . . . . 3 3/4 per cent.
Between the ages of 40 and 45 years . . . . 2 1/2 per cent.
Between the ages of 45 and 50 years . . . . 3/8 of 1 per cent.
Between the ages of 50 and 56 years . . . . 1/4 of 1 per cent.

After sixty is is one-tenth of one per cent. or one chance in a thousand. A pretty slender figure--but FIGURES are often SLENDER at that age.

End of quote from Houghtalings.

I don't know about you but I had to chuckle at this list and the author's comment at the end. I have no idea if such a lists exists today of the same statistics but it is interesting to note that there isn't a list for men in this little handbook.

Upon further research I found earlier stats that gives both men & women, listed below.

The Ladies Repository ©1873
Hymeneal Statistics.—This subject is always interesting, and marriage statistics are curious as well as instructive. In England, this class of statistics are "got up" with official accuracy. From the "Register-General of England," it appears that a lady's chance of getting married is at its maximum between the ages of twenty and twenty-five. Before twenty, her chances are but one-fifth, and from twenty to twenty-five one-third, of that maximum chance. Men marry later than women, and yet a great majority of marriages are agreed upon while both parties are under twenty-five. Men contract marriages to a later period than women; out of 27,483 single persons who were married in 1848, there was only one spinster above sixty years old, while there were twelve bachelors. A widower selects a more steady age than a bachelor ; while a widow prefers that her " second husband " shall be younger than herself

End of quote from Ladies Repository