> there are about 2% more boys born than girls, and girls survive childhood illnesses at a higher rate than boys, so the discrepancy is slightly less when they reach the age for shidduchim. Or do you have a different observation
People in this thread keep thinking that their observation means anything at all.
The actual numbers are very clear, and simple.
First, what you said is just wrong: in the general population, by age 19, the numbers are equal, and at all higher ages women outnumber men, more strongly every year.
More importantly, the year-on-year growth of our community is an even stronger effect. I’ll be very simple here: every year, there are more babies born to frum yidden, B”H. That means there are more 20-year-olds than 23-year-olds. Even if every 23-year-old boy marries a 20-year-old girl, there will be girls “left over”. The bigger the age gap, the more girls will be “left over”.
There are lots of other factors, but they’re just “nibbling around the edges” compared to the big numbers we’re talking about here.