The Wedding Shortage; In the Middle East, marriage is in deep crisis, for financial reasons.

Byline: Navtej Singh Dhillon (Dhillon is the Director of the Middle East Youth Initiative at the Wolfensohn Center for Development.)

Hizbullah may be calling protesters into the streets of Beirut. But Mazen Younes, a 26-year-old Lebanese marketing researcher, is more interested in getting married. Having a job that pays $2,000 a month--three times more than average--has a lot to do with it. That means, he says, "I may be able to marry before turning 30."

Contrast his situation with that of George Thabet, a 34-year-old Egyptian accountant who earns less than $300 a month--half of which goes to commuting costs. As an only son, he also has to support his aging parents. For him, matrimony is a frustratingly elusive dream.

Marriage, long the centerpiece of Middle Eastern life, is in crisis. The reason: a new generation of young men cannot afford to marry--a fact that's destined to exacerbate many of the region's social and political problems. Little more than a decade ago, 63 percent of Middle Eastern men married by their late 20s. Today the figure is just over 50 percent. Iran brings up the rear, at 38 percent, with the swathe of Maghreb between the Levant and Morocco only marginally better. Contrast that to Asia, which leads the nuptial race with 77 percent of men aged 25 to 29 being married, followed by 69 percent in Latin America and 66 percent in Africa.

The consequences of these trends are profound. In most Arab countries, a bachelor's life is devoid of economic and social opportunities. Marriage remains the path to adulthood, social status and legitimate sexual relationships. In contrast to Americans and Europeans, the majority of Arab men in their late 20s are not staying single by choice. They are forced into it by circumstances.

Marriage is so critical to Egyptians, for example, that they spend some $3.8 billion annually on it. (That's more than the $2 billion in U.S. economic aid the country receives each year.) Most of these costs are borne by the groom--approximately $6,000 for a wedding, or four and half times the average annual income. And while marriage costs have risen with inflation over the years, incomes have been largely stagnant since 1985. With youth unemployment exceeding 30 percent, growing numbers of young Middle Eastern men face serious financial obstacles to getting married, especially in early adulthood. Moroccan men nowadays ...