Half a million cohabitants

The number of cohabitants in Norway was estimated at around half a million in 1998. The vast majority are young people. Around 200,000 are in their twenties and 160,000 are in their thirties. The number of elderly cohabitants is rather modest. It is estimated that 18,000 cohabitants are 60 years of age or older.

There are no exact figures on the number of cohabitants. The figures in these statistics are based on interviews.

Cohabitants with common children are an exception. Far more precise information is available about this group. According to current family statistics, Norway had 87,000 cohabiting couples with common children on 1 January 1998. In other words, every third cohabiting couple is a couple with children. The increase in cohabiting couples with children has been far greater than the general increase in cohabiting couples.

Eight in 10 have never been married

Couples who live together can be divided into two groups: those who have never been married and previously married. Because the majority of cohabitants are young people, the group of never-married is, as expected, by far the largest. Eighty-three per cent of all cohabitants have never been married. Only among cohabitants over the age of 50 are previously married persons in the majority. Seven out of 10 of the oldest cohabitants were married before, while three in 10 have never been married. The opposite is the case in the age group 35 to 49. Here, only three in 10 have been married before and the rest have never been married. Cohabitants make up 16 per cent of all women and men in this age group.

New Statistics
Cohabitational status, 1998.
Statistics are published annually in the Weekly Bulletin of Statistics. For more information contact: Turid.Noack@ssb.no, tel. +47 21 09 48 60.

Weekly Bulletin issue no. 9, 1999