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SUMMARY This paper endeavours to analyse the changes occurring in matrimonial policies in Central Pentecost (Vanuatu) over the last fifty years through the combination of data collected through the ethnographic survey and the quantitative results of population census. With respect to the male population, the trend shows a definite drop in the marrying age, dating back to the forties until today. Through christianisation, the younger men have gradually been trying to manage their own marriages, thereby evading in this respect the strongly custom dominated practices. On the other side, however, women with access to education are now marrying at a later date. Marrying ages mays have changed, but the matchmaking process laid down by custom, in which the man may select his wife, remains unaltered, as strict and inflexible as ever., Walter Annie. L'épouser hier et aujourd'hui : quelques notes sur les stratégies matrimoniales à Vanuatu. In: Journal de la Société des océanistes, 84, 1987-1. pp. 83-91.