Colombia has been characterized by extreme levels of civil violence throughout
the latter part of the twentieth century, and the burden of excess mortality attributable to this
violence has been borne primarily by young men. Populations with a large violent death burden
are likely to experience consequences in terms of (1) marriage markets, (2) the dynamics of family
formation and dissolution, and (3) patterns of parental investment in offspring. Using data from
national censuses and household surveys, we calculate a measure of the marital sex ratio in order
to explore the impact of differential male mortality on marriage markets in Colombia. Overall,
Colombia is characterized by a female biased sex ratio at all ages. This relative excess of women
is particularly pronounced in certain departments of the Central and Pacific regions which have
been especially affected by civil violence. We suggest that the low sex ratios which characterized
Colombia are partially responsible for the increasingly high frequency of consensual unions and,
potentially, female-biased rural-urban migration.