Cohabitation, Marriage and Remarriage Patterns in Africa:

Africa is one continent with several worlds. Africa is home to innumerable tribes, ethnic and social groups, some representing very large populations consisting of millions of people, others are smaller groups of a few thousand. All these tribes and groups have cultures which are different, but represent the mosaic of cultural diversity of Africa. When considering any particular issue partaining to Africa it is neccesary to keep these various cultural variations in mind even in its social institutions such as in the case of Marriage. Marriage in Africa has been commonly described as early and universal and this situation has partly been blamed for the persistence of high fertility in the region. However, the region is far from homogenous. Marriage patterns vary across and within countries among different ethnic groups. Such variations could be due to both cultural and socio-economic factors. Although it varies in different African countries, however, the four main marital union can be identified as follows: Custom/traditional marriage, religious marriage, civil marriage and mutual consent union/cohabitaion.