Cohabitation by Region - Living Together Report

Americas

* In Canada, 16.0% of couples were cohabiting as of 2001 (29.8.% in Quebec, and 11.7% in the other provinces).

* In Mexico, 18.7% of couples were cohabiting as of 2005. Ley de sociedad de convivencia: the Spanish name for "Cohabitation Societies Law", legislation created on November 9, 2006, by the Legislation Assembly of Mexico City to establish legal rights and duties for all those cases where two people (due to either sexual, familial or friendly reasons) are living together.

* Cohabitation in the United States is illegal in five states but a total of 4.85 million couples live together. Laws against cohabitation are almost never enforced in practice.


Asia

* In Bangladesh cohabitation after divorce is frequently punished by the salishi system of informal courts, especially in rural areas.

* In India, cohabitation had been taboo since British rule. However, this is no longer true in big cities, but is still often found in rural areas with more conservative values. Female live-in partners have economic rights under Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005.

* In Indonesia, an Islamic penal code proposed in 2005 would have made cohabitation punishable by up to two years in prison.

* In Japan, according to M. Iwasawa at the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, less than 3% of females between 25-29 are currently cohabiting, but more than 1 in 5 have had some experience of an unmarried partnership, including cohabitation. A more recent Iwasawa study has shown that there has been a recent emergence of non-marital cohabitation. Couples born in the 1950s cohort showed an incidence of cohabitation of 11.8%, where the 1960s and 1970s cohorts showed cohabitation rates of 30%, and 53.9% respectively. The split between urban and rural residence for people who had cohabited is indicates 68.8% were urban and 31.2% were rural.

* In the Philippines, around 2.4 million Filipinos were cohabiting as of 2004. The 2000 census placed the percentage of cohabiting couples at 19%. The majority of individuals are between the ages of 20-24. Poverty was often the main factor in decision to cohabit.


Europe

* In Denmark, Norway and Sweden, cohabitation is very common; roughly 50% of all children are born into families of unmarried couples, whereas the same figure for several other Western European countries is roughly 10%. Many couples decide to marry later.

* In late 2005, 21% of families in Finland consisted of cohabitating couples (all age groups). Of couples with children, 18% were cohabitating. Of ages 18 and above in 2003, 13.4% were cohabitating. Generally, cohabitation amongst Finns is most common for people under 30. Legal obstacles for cohabitation were removed in 1926 in a reform of the Finnish penal code, while the phenomenon was socially accepted much later on among non-Christian Finns.

* In the UK, 25% of children are now born to cohabiting parents.

* In France, 17.5% of couples were cohabiting as of 1999.


Middle East

* The cohabitation rate in Israel is less than 3% of all couples, compared to 8%, on average, in West European countries.

* Cohabitation is illegal according to sharia law (for the countries that enforce it)


Oceania

* In Australia, 22% of couples were cohabiting as of 2005. See Australian Bureau of Statistics.

* In New Zealand, 18.3% of couples were cohabiting as of 2001.