Cohabitation still more widespread in Northern Norway

Northern Norway and counties in Trøndelag have the highest percentages of cohabitants, while fewer couples choose this form of union in Western and Southern Norway, a sample survey from Statistics Norway shows. The total number of cohabiting couples in Norway is estimated at 225,000, while the comparative registered figure for married couples is 850,00.

In Northern Norway, 69 per cent of all couples under 35 years of age are cohabitants. The comparative figure for Agder and Rogaland is 37 per cent. In Eastern Norway around half of all cohabiting couples in this age group are unmarried. There are similar regional differences among older persons, but overall there are far fewer cohabiting couples in this age group.

Modest increase in cohabitation

Forty-nine per cent of the women aged 20 to 44 are married, 27 do not live with a partner and the remaining 24 per cent are cohabitants. In 1977, by comparison, only five per cent of the women in the same age group were cohabitants. Ten years later the percentage of cohabitants had more than tripled. In the 1990s the increase has been far more modest, rising from 21 per cent in 1992 to 24 per cent in 1996.

The growth of modern-day cohabitation took place earlier in the other Scandinavian countries than in Norway. Today, the difference between Norway and Denmark is insignificant, while cohabitation still appears to be more widespread in Sweden.

Cohabitation is only more common than marriage among people under 30 years of age. Among men and women in their 30s, 59 per cent are married, 22 per cent cohabitants and 19 per cent do not live with a partner. Among older age groups, the cohabitation rate is substantially lower. Seventy-six per cent of the women and men in their 50s are married, six per cent are cohabiting and 18 per cent do not live with a partner. These are generations when most people married at a relatively young age.

Weekly Bulletin issue no. 23, 1997