The Best Age to Get Married, Have a Kid, Retire

The Pew Research Center asked people around the world about the best age to hit some of the big milestones in life, and came up with some interesting averages. In addition to the US, surveys were conducted in Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, the Philippines, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tunisia, and Turkey. The numbers on four key questions:

• Marriage: Most put the mid-20s as the best age to get married, with the extremes being 21.2 in Bangladesh and 28.9 in Argentina.

• Parent: The mid-20s also was the average answer on the best age to become a parent, with extremes of 23.5 in Bangladesh and 29.8 in Tunisia.
• Home buying: This one had the most variance, with people in Brazil putting the best age to buy a home at 24.9 on the low end and people in Ghana clocking in at 36.3.
• Retirement: Generally, most people thought the late 50s was the best age to retire, with the extremes at 52.1 in Colombia and 62.7 in Nigeria.
• Americans: On average, people in the US put 26.5 as the best age to get married, 27.3 to become a parent, 28.8 to buy a house, and 61.8 to retire.

Read the full story, with more breakdowns on the stats. (Or check out other lists.)