Living Apart Together

Abstract

In Britain, live-in partnerships, be they within marriage or not, have been forming later in people’s lives. For instance, comparing women born in the 1950s with those born in the 1970s, the age by which one-half had their fi rst live-in partnership (i.e. the median age) increased from 22 to 25.1 Another big change over the last quarter of the twentieth century is that in the new millennium the vast majority of partnerships now begin as informal, cohabiting unions. These unions rose as a proportion of fi rst partnerships from about one-quarter for women born in the 1950s to over four-fi fths for women born in the 1970s. These two changes lie behind the large postponement of marriage and motherhood in women’s lives. Cohabiting unions have a high dissolution rate, and it has increased over time: one-half of the cohabiting unions eventually dissolve, with the other half turning into marriage. In addition to union postponement and dissolution, the rate of re-partnering after dissolution affects the proportion of people who do not live with a partner. After a cohabiting union dissolves, one-half re-partner within about 2 years, but it takes over 7 years for one-half to have re-partnered after a marriage dissolves.

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