Men more likely to bag brainy brides as women choose to 'marry down'

Research shows that the traditional pattern which saw women pick spouses with a higher social status has been reversed.

For centuries, men were likely to be the more knowledgeable and higher earners.

But now it is women who are more likely to ‘marry down’ as more study at university.

Deferring to more learned ladies may damage men’s pride – but it hasn’t put them off getting hitched.

‘One could consider that the increase in education among women would make forming unions more difficult and raise the number of single women,’ said researcher Albert Esteve.


‘However, what we see is that the composition of couples adapts quite well to these structural changes.’

In 21 nations as diverse as France, Slovenia and Mongolia there are now more women marrying ‘down’ than ‘up’, the study from Spain’s the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona shows.

It is based on census figures from 56 countries, dating back to the late 1960s.