Doha, Jan 7 (IANS) Women in Qatar, who earlier got married in their teens, are now delaying their weddings till their late 20s or early 30s to focus on education or pursue a career, a study has found.

Only one percent of Qatari women marry between 15 and 19 years of age, Gulf News reported citing the findings of a survey conducted by the Social and Economic Research Institute (SESRI) at Qatar University.

"This situation is not peculiar to Qatar, and presently is a common feature in many Arab countries," said SESRI associate director Hanan Abdul Rahim.

In other Arab countries too, we are seeing the change in the pattern of marriage," Rahim was quoted as saying by Qatari daily The Peninsula.

Several reasons like education, profession or "non-availability of marriageable men" were behind the delay, Rahim said.

The study found out that 60 percent of women marry after the age of 25.

However, after the age of 30, the likelihood of first marriage declines significantly in Qatari society.

According to the study, 28.1 percent of Qatari women are married to their first cousins, while 10.1 percent got married to a distant cousin.