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Peer reviewed research from census data would suggest your friends are wrong...
Everybody tries to make an argument that suits their purpose. You want to marry a significantly younger woman and the girls to whom you were talking have already expressed a preference. (I bet the older Russian guy was not a pauper!)
Girls seeking economic benefit or more euphemistically 'stability' will tend to go for an older guy for obvious reasons, but according to data, the mean age at first marriage, a Russian bride is about 21 and for men it is 23, a difference of just two years, this figure is for people born in 1960, and has been very stable since around 1910 although has been a tendency for marriage age to decrease over the years. For that to have changed significantly since the 1960 cohort would mean there is a generation of Russian men who are not able to find a wife, this appears not to be so.
It is entirely obvious that the social norm in Russia is for age differences similar to those in Western Europe and the US, IE around two years.
This is a really good resource for myth busting data! :vibes:
Look at the data in respect of marriage and remarriage!
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would it be possible that RW are looking at different aged men in Russia and abroad ?
RW in their 20's that marry in Russia will look for men with relatively little age difference. I do not think the demographics inside Russia will be different form USa or Western Europe.
BUT....when they are looking for WM one of the factors is stability.
There for they will look for men of late twenties to mid thirties.
This might explain the age difference.
I have met an RW of 20 who was looking for a WM. She would think men of 33 to 35 were too old, bu also not accept a WM of less than 25.
Ideal age was described as 28-30.
This seems to be consistent data, however I am sure there are no statistics to either bust or confirm this myth.
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I am sure that the women looking abroad take what they can get.
Don't forget that given prevailing social conditions in Russia that a woman who is older then about 23 or 24 and who is seeking a foreign guy has almost by definition rejected Russian guys, of her cohort, simply because she is getting too old for them and the good ones are tending to be married already. It is not really, for the younger girls, a case of expanding the field, it is a case of making a choice for a foreign relationship. (I would be interested to know the overall success rate for this group of women and how long they wait. I can think of no way to reliably infer this figure from available data...)
I am of the unshakable conviction that very few women would sign up with a marriage agency unless they thought that their economic situation would be better than it was at present, or better than they could see for themselves in the near future. It is quite obvious that most men seeking a Russian woman are older than thirty odd, most seemingly in their 40's and older.
The women in agencies have made a rationalisation and a choice. I bet though that a good looking, socially well adjusted bloke of 25 who could demonstrate 'stability' IE a good and reliable standard of living NOW would be very attractive to these women. I also know for sure that such a man would have no need of going to Russia for his bride.
Given that in Western Europe, The US and Australia the normal age gap at first marriage is two years, just as in Russia, your acquaintance was already stretching things. On a practical level, there are good reasons for her to say what she did, not the least being that she would know that few men who could offer her what she wanted would have been within a couple of years of her age.
If you want to find out the truth, ask girls who are NOT looking for foreign relationships what they think, almost by definition, if you are not living there and speaking fluent Russian, the only women you will meet will be those who are at least somewhat interested in foreign guys and have already accepted the consequences of such a choice.
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