Adjacent States: States which border Indiana include Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky.
Age: In this report, age refers to age in years as reported by the applicants on the Record of Marriage (State Form 27553). If a birthday occurs between submitting the application form and the marriage ceremony, age at the time of the actual marriage ceremony may be one year older than that reported on the license application form. The application form is valid for 90 days.
In Indiana, marriages involving persons 15-17 years of age require parental consent and/or court order, depending on the actual age.
Mean Age: The mean age is the arithmetic average of the age for those individuals for whom age was reported.
Median Age: The median age is the age that divides the number of brides or grooms into two equal groups. One-half of the grooms are older than their median age and one-half of the brides are older than their median age. Because the distribution of age is skewed (not normally distributed or bell shaped), the median is a better measure than the mean.
Ceremony Type: Whether the ceremony was a civil ceremony or a religious ceremony is determined by the title and name of the officiating individual or the place the ceremony occurred. If the title reflects a government official, such as mayor, magistrate, or judge, the ceremony is categorized as civil. If the title reflects a religious entity, such as reverend, father, or priest, or the location of the marriage was a place of worship, the ceremony is categorized as religious.
Education Level: The education levels of the bride and groom reflect the highest grade completed as reported by the applicants on the Record of Marriage (State form 27553).
Marriage Rates: Rates are expressed as the number of marriages per 1,000 population in specified age and/or marital status categories. Rates are provided for a number of different population bases to allow for comparisons with commonly used rates for the nation and other states. Population bases from the 1990 Census MARS counts were used in this report. Population estimates for more recent calendar years are not available by marital status.
Place of Occurrence: By convention marriages are tabulated by place of occurrence (County and State) rather than place of residence as in other vital events (births, deaths, etc.). This is primarily because marriages involve two individuals who may have different places of residence.
Previous Marital Status: Marital status prior to the marriage is reported for both the bride and the groom. Individuals are categorized as never married, or if previously married, by how the last marriage ended (death, divorce or annulment). The number of previous marriages is also reported. In the tables in this report, annulments are included in the category labeled divorced.
Unmarried: This category includes the never married, the widowed and the divorced.