Life event index

Life’s journey is different for everyone, but there are certain milestones that most of us will experience. Whether it’s your wedding day, your first child, moving into your first home, or getting your first job, life is made up of many key events.

Reaching life’s milestones is often a cause for celebration, but also for reflection. For example, getting married or buying a house may make you consider whether it’s time to take out life insurance.

While most of us will go through these life events, the average age at which we do so can differ around the world.

Here’s a look at the average time taken to reach some of life’s biggest milestones in the UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

Life's biggest milestones in the UK

Typically, the first milestone people in the UK reach is moving out of their parent’s home. According to data, the average adult will start to live independently at the age of 20. This is followed by moving in with their partner at 27.

The next life milestone those in England and Wales usually meet is having their first child, with couples seeming to have children before marriage. The average age for having children in England and Wales is 29, while the average age for getting married is 34. In Northern Ireland, the average age of first-time mothers is 29, while the average age of marriage is slightly later than in England and Wales, at 35. In Scotland, the average age of childbirth and marriage are even later, at 31 and 37 respectively.

The data also suggests that on average, people are choosing to have children before purchasing a property. This could be a result of house prices continuing to rise making it harder to save for a deposit. On average, UK citizens buy their first home aged 32, 12 years after they typically move out of their parent’s home.

Compared to the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, the UK has the oldest official pension age, at 68, but some do work past this.

Life's biggest milestones in the USA

Similar to the UK, moving out of their parent's homes is the first milestone American adults typically face. However, the average age is slightly younger in the US than the UK at 19.

Despite living independently at a younger age, Americans tend to buy their first home when they are slightly older, the average age being 33. As is the case for most of these countries, the average costs of buying a home in the US have been steadily increasing. This is likely why the average homebuyer age has increased too.

The USA also has a slightly shorter gap between the average age of giving birth to a baby and getting married. The average mother has her first child aged 27 in the states, while the average marriage age is 29. However, a younger average marriage age also seemingly means Americans are more likely to get divorced younger, with an average divorce age of just 30.

The American pension age was recently increased to 67, but retirees can access reduced payments from 62. This means that, on average, Americans have 10 years to enjoy retirement. The average life expectancy is considerably lower in the US than in the other 4 countries here, standing at 77. Some of the reasons for this are high rates of smoking, obesity and homicides¹ in the US, among other things.

Life's biggest milestones in Australia

Australians are the most likely to delay moving out, with an average age of 23 for leaving their parents’ home. Unsurprisingly, the cost of housing is one of the primary reasons for this. Australians are also waiting longer to get married, which is often around the time when they may buy their first home².

Similar to the UK and USA, the data shows that Australian parents seem more likely to have a child before marriage, doing so at 28 on average. In comparison, the average age of marriage in Australia is 31. They also have a large age gap between the average age of marriage and divorce, with those getting a divorce typically doing so aged 44. This could be because, generally speaking, couples who marry later are less likely to get divorced³.

Australians also live the longest out of the 5 countries, with an average life expectancy of just over 83. This is a testament to the Australian healthcare system, with Australians benefitting from high vaccination rates and advanced medical treatments⁴. Along with a pension age of 67, this means that the average Australian could enjoy around 16 years of retirement.

Life's biggest milestones in New Zealand

Australia’s neighbours, New Zealand, tend to get married and have children around the same time, with both having an average age of 30. It also seems that adults living in New Zealand are typically choosing to marry and have a child before committing to a home. The average age for buying a first home in the country is 34. This has risen considerably since the 1970s (25)⁵. Like many other countries, this may have been driven by rising costs which could delay people settling down.

According to the data, New Zealand has a high average divorce age of 45. In New Zealand, couples have to prove that they’ve lived apart for 2 years before divorcing, something that could put people off getting divorced earlier.

It’s also one of the nations where the government pension age is the lowest, with Kiwis able to claim their pension at 65. The New Zealand pension system is one of the most generous in the world. Retirees earn NZ$25,000 a year if they’re single and NZ$37,500 for couples⁶.

Like Australia, it also has one of the higher average life expectancies, at 82 years of age. As a high-income economy, New Zealanders enjoy good healthcare, with 9.7% of gross domestic product (GDP) being spent on healthcare⁷.

Life's biggest milestones in Canada

Canada sits as being either the youngest or oldest nation for many of the milestones that we’ve analysed the data for.

It’s the youngest of these 5 countries for couples tying the knot, with an average age of just 28. Canada was among the first countries to legalise same-sex marriage, doing so in 2005.

It’s also where there’s the biggest gap between the average ages of marriage and divorce (45). But people there also wait the longest to buy a house, at 36, with the average property in Canada costing C$816,720⁸.

Canadians can expect to retire at 65, which is the age at which residents get their pension. However, you can start receiving payments as early as 60 (albeit in smaller amounts). This means that Canadians should be able to enjoy a long retirement, as the life expectancy in Canada is 82. This may be because Canadians have universal access to publicly funded health services.

The most shared life events on social media

Life milestones are special occasions that many choose to share with friends and family. They’re also among some of the most shared memories on social media platforms.

Here’s a look at some of the life events that are most commonly tagged in social media posts.

Instagram

1. Marriage - 235,937,849 posts

By some distance, the life event that’s most shared on social media is marriage. There are almost 236 million posts on Instagram with the hashtag #marriage. Wedding days are seen as one of the most special moments in your life, so it's understandable that so many are sharing this online.

It’s become etiquette with modern weddings that guests don’t share their own pictures on social media until after the bride and groom have done so.

2. Birthday - 143,815,980 posts

While many life events come around once in a lifetime, the best thing about birthdays is that we get to enjoy them year after year. Pictures of birthday celebrations are among the most popular tagged images on Instagram, as are pictures of the cake.

3. Baby shower - 36,098,020

In third place, although some way behind weddings and birthdays, are baby showers, with around 36 million Instagram posts.

Baby showers celebrate the upcoming arrival of a new little one, where the new baby and the mum-to-be are ‘showered’ with gifts.

As well as pictures of the events themselves, many mums turn to Instagram to share all of the wonderful gifts they received too.

TikTok

1. Birthday - 44.5 billion views

After coming second on Instagram, data shows that birthdays are the most shared life event on TikTok.

Videos tagged with #birthday have totalled an incredible 44.5 billion views on the video-sharing platform.

2. Pregnancy - 38.5 billion views

In second place is another moment that deserves to be celebrated, the news that you’re expecting a new child.

Whether it's your first baby or the latest addition to the family, finding out that there’s a new arrival is one of life’s most exciting times.

Most of the videos that have the most views on the platform are of people revealing their big news to the world.

3. Separation - 22.4 billion views

While you’d think that most would use social media to spread life’s more positive moments, there have been 22.4 billion views on TikTok about breakups.

Going through heartbreak is one of the toughest life events we have to deal with. But, it seems many are dealing with it in a rather unconventional way, by sharing their experience on social media.

While some of the breakup posts on TikTok are of people sharing their experiences, others are more lighthearted memes and jokes about breakups.

The most stressful life events

While life events can be moments to be treasured, they can also bring a fair amount of stress and grief too. To find out the life events that cause us the most stress, we surveyed 2,000 Brits. Each person was asked to rank 8 life events based on which is the most stressful. Here are the events that the most people ranked top.

1. Death of a loved one - 37.4%

Understandably, losing a loved one was ranked as the worst life event by a large number of people, with over a third surveyed ranking it first. Few things compare to bereavement and losing someone special is something that can take a long time to come to terms with.

2. Divorce - 16.4%

It’s not something that everyone will have to go through, but divorce is never a pleasant experience and was ranked as the most stressful by 16.4%.  Divorce is not only difficult, but also expensive, which of course only adds to the stress.

3. Losing your job - 12.2%

Again, it might not be something that happens to everyone, but losing a job is a big blow, no matter the reason why. Whether it’s through your own actions or beyond your control entirely, losing your job can leave you feeling deflated and anxious about the future.

The most stressful life events by gender

When looking at the difference between men and women, men are much more likely to find the ups and downs of marriage more stressful. Almost double the number of men listed marriage as the most stressful event (9% compared to 4.6% of women). Similarly, 19.1% of men found divorce to be the most stressful event, compared to 14.7% of women.

The most stressful life events by age

 

Understandably, people of all ages responded that the death of a loved one is the most stressful life event. Older people were the most likely to say that the death of a loved one was the most stressful life event, with 47.3% of over 54s doing so.

Meanwhile, 14% of 25 to 34-year-olds say losing their job is the biggest stressor, compared to 5.9% of those over 54. Interestingly, younger people were also more likely to perceive retirement as being stressful. More than 1 in 10 (11.9%) 18 to 24-year-olds said they anticipated retirement being the most stressful, compared to just 6.8% of those over 54. 

Louise Thomas, life insurance expert at Confused.com comments:

“From buying your first home to having your first child, the average age at which such milestones are met can vary significantly across the globe. Although we reach these at different points in our lives, many of us still enjoy sharing these special occasions across social media. Marriages prove particularly popular on Instagram with over 2 million tags, while birthdays are most popular on TikTok with over 44 billion views

“But it’s also no surprise that the death of a loved one is considered the most stressful life event. This is why it’s important to have life insurance to protect your family against financial stressors should anything happen to you. You should consider taking out life insurance whenever you go through a life event to help cover any costs you leave behind if something happens to you.”

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