Melbourne, Apr 24: Women possessing degrees are more likely to marry than their less educated counterparts, a new analysis shows. University-educated women older than 34 were more likely to be married, the analysis found. Even among women in their 20s, the marriage gap between those with and without degrees had closed, it added.

''The assumption was that the more women invested in education and career, the less interested they would be in family, and the less they would need to be supported by a husband,'' said analyst Genevieve Heard of the Centre for Population and Urban Research at Monash University. "It was also assumed they were less traditional in their outlook on life," The Age quoted her as aying. In 1996 women without university degrees had higher marriage rates. But within a decade it was no longer the case. By 2006 61 per cent of women aged 30 to 34 who had degrees were married, compared with 53 per cent of those without post-school qualifications, the analysis, published in the journal People And Place reported.

Among university-educated women aged 30 to 34 falling marriage rates had stabilised by 2006 but continued to decline rapidly among other women, it said. In the decade to 2006 the marriage gap between men with degrees and those without became wider than ever. Seventy-six per cent of men aged 40 to 44 who had degrees were married, compared with 57 per cent of men without post-school qualifications, it added.

Richer men were also more likely to be married, the analysis showed.

UNI