Editorial | By AZE.US Editorial Team
A young man is told it is time to marry. A young woman is reminded that time is passing. Parents want grandchildren; relatives ask about the wedding. Behind those conversations, however, lies a question the future spouses will have to answer themselves: What will they live on?
Two people can love each other, want children and still put off starting a family. Alongside that desire comes a concrete calculation: rent, groceries, utilities, transport and medicine. Then comes another: What happens if, after a child is born, only one of them can earn for a while?
In those circumstances, refusing to rush into marriage can be an act of responsibility. Young people are calculating in advance the expenses they will later have to meet.
Debt, constant extra work, cutting back on personal needs and fear of being unable to afford a second child make young people postpone family formation. Love and mutual support still matter, and financial comfort alone does not guarantee happiness. But building a life together becomes harder when there is barely enough money for everyday needs.
These are individual views. Yet the question deserves a serious answer: Why is starting a family beginning to look like a financial risk that requires years of preparation?
The Bills Keep Coming After the Wedding
Azerbaijan registered 26,485 marriages in January-August 2026, according to State Statistical Committee figures reported by APA. The number of marriages per 1,000 residents fell to 3.9 from 4.6 in the corresponding period a year earlier. Those figures alone do not explain the decline, but they show that the discussion about postponing family life has not come out of nowhere.
It is convenient to explain everything as young people’s unwillingness to accept responsibility. It is much harder to examine the conditions in which they are being asked to accept it.
Consider a hypothetical budget, not an estimate of average market costs.
Two people each earn 800 manats (about $471), giving them a combined income of 1,600 manats (about $941). If rent costs 600 manats (about $353), they have 1,000 manats (about $588) left for every other expense.
Now suppose that, after a child is born, the household temporarily has to rely on just one of those salaries. After paying the same rent, only 200 manats (about $118) remains. Meanwhile, expenses rise.
Of course, families’ circumstances differ. Some receive help from an employer or their parents; some have savings or own an apartment. But access to that support often determines how confidently a couple can plan for the future.
Azerbaijan’s average monthly nominal wage in January-August 2026 was 1,173 manats (about $690), up 7.2% from a year earlier. Yet the national average gross wage is not what every young worker earns, nor does it show how much remains after essential expenses.
For prospective spouses, that remainder is what matters. Can they save? Could they survive a job loss? Could they pay for treatment without borrowing from relatives?
Society Expects a Wedding, but Leaves the Bill to the Couple
Social expectations add to everyday expenses. A couple may be expected to arrange a large celebration, buy expensive gifts, furnish an apartment and be ready to have a child immediately after the wedding.
Each demand is explained individually as tradition. Together, they create a high financial barrier to family life.
Parents help, borrow and hand over their savings. Young people begin independent life with obligations that constrain them before their first child arrives. The celebration ends; the payments continue.
Society itself can lower those expectations. A modest wedding should be an ordinary choice that a couple does not have to justify to distant relatives. Savings for the first months of life together are more useful than spending undertaken to win other people’s approval.
But even abandoning the celebration altogether does not solve the problem of affordable housing and a reliable income. People still need somewhere to live after registering their marriage.
Money Also Determines Time With the Family
Financial difficulties are not measured only in money. They also consume time and energy.
If one spouse constantly has to find extra work to cover ordinary expenses, the family gains income at the cost of less time at home. If both return exhausted, they have less energy for each other and their children.
That is why a young person’s question, “Can I support a family?” is about much more than pay. It also means: Can I take part in my own child’s life? Will we have a chance to rest? Will every unexpected expense become a family crisis?
Wanting that financial cushion is reasonable. It does not require wealth. It requires being able to live on what one earns while retaining at least some confidence in tomorrow.
Calls to Have Children Cannot Replace Livable Conditions
If society wants to support young families, the discussion must cover affordable housing, predictable employment, childcare, the ability to combine work with caring for a child, and support during temporary drops in income.
Family assistance must make a difference in the monthly household budget. That is where decisions are made about moving, marrying and having a first or second child.
Relatives, too, should change the conversation.
Instead of asking yet again, “When is the wedding?” it would be more useful to ask what help would allow the couple to begin an independent life.
Sometimes that means money, sometimes help looking after a child, and sometimes simply accepting that the couple cannot afford the celebration others expect.
People need the chance to start a family without constant fear of the next bill. Until they have that confidence, waiting is an understandable choice.
And the longer young people are forced to wait for financial stability, the more society pays for its habit of explaining their decision as a lack of family values.
Adapted from an editorial by Vesti Baku.