We see that Sub-Saharan Africa continues to hang behind the other regions. Lastly, a large difference continues to exist between the various regions of the world. This observation coincides closely with the findings of Casterline et al. ( At the same time marriage ages themselves are sensitive to economic developments and therefore fluctuate over time. The greatest progress in closing the gap was made in the MENA region, although the countries of Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa have also shown remarkable progress.