The reason why men like to marry young women

Samuli Helle, an ecologist at the University of Turku in Finland, said: "The Sami people only marry once in their lifetime. After studying the impact of the age difference between husband and wife in Sami marriages on the family's fertility, we found that if you marry a woman who is 14.6 years younger than you, the young wife will successfully give birth to more children for her husband, and their offspring will live to at least 18 years old."

To eliminate the impact of modern medical advances on child survival, the researchers looked at the data from 17th-19th century families living in Utsjoki, Inari and Enontekio.

The above results were obtained from the church records of 700 couples (Enontekio). However, only 10% of these 700 couples had husbands and wives with the optimal age difference. Among the 700 pairs, there were men who married women 20 years older than them, and women who married husbands 25 years older than themselves. The overall average age difference was 3 years. Helle said the growing number of Sami marriages that do not show the optimal age difference may be related to social factors such as their marriage customs and the ability of reindeer to provide for their families (the Sami generally rely on reindeer for their livelihoods).

But ultimately a woman's childbearing age is the biggest factor affecting the survival rate of her offspring. A research paper published in Biology Letters pointed out that younger women generally give birth to more healthy children. Marrying an older woman or a man who is much older than you is the most detrimental to successful reproduction.

Other research in Sweden suggests the ideal fertility match is for a man to marry a woman six years younger than him. However, cultural restrictions on marriage have changed. "Wealth is the most important factor in (Sami) marriages," Helle said. "Love plays almost no role."

In fact, no matter how big the age difference is, as long as both parties feel happy and healthy, that is the most important thing. After all, reproduction is the result of marriage, but it is not the ultimate goal. The purposes of marriage are multifaceted, but happiness is the ultimate and most desirable result for everyone. Just pursue your own happy marriage for the sake of happiness. In this context, age is not a gap!