Editing Cohabitation (section)

==Social changes leading to increase==

[[File:Percentage of birth to unmarried women, selected countries, 1980 and 2007.png|upright=1.8|thumb|Percentage of births to unmarried women, selected countries, 1980 and 2007<ref name="non_mar1">{{cite web |title=Changing Patterns of Nonmarital Childbearing in the United States |url=https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db18.htm |work=CDC/National Center for Health Statistics |date=13 May 2009|access-date=24 September 2011}}</ref>]]

Cohabitation is a common pattern among people in the Western world.

In Europe, the [[Scandinavia|Scandinavian countries]] began this trend, although many countries have since followed.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Turid Noack |author2=Eva Bernhardt |author3=Kenneth Aarskaug Wiik |author4=Torkild Hovde Lyngstad |title=The realization of marriage plans among cohabiting couples in Scandinavia |url=http://paa2011.princeton.edu/papers/110852 |access-date=11 February 2019 |publisher=[[Princeton University]] |archive-date=22 September 2020 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200922163100/https://paa2011.princeton.edu/papers/110852}}</ref> Mediterranean Europe has traditionally been very conservative, with religion playing a strong role. Until the mid-1990s, cohabitation levels remained low in this region, but have since increased;<ref>{{cite journal |title=Cohabitation in Spain: No longer a marginal path to family formation|author=Teresa Castro Martin |journal=Journal of Marriage and Family |date=January 2013 |volume=75 |issue=2 |pages=422–437 |doi=10.1111/jomf.12013 |url=https://www.academia.edu/5467158 |access-date=22 August 2015}}</ref> for example, in Portugal the majority of children have been born of unwed parents since 2015, constituting 60% of the total in 2021.<ref>{{cite web |title=60% dos bebés em Portugal são filhos de pais não casados|trans-title=60% of babies in Portugal are children of unmarried parents|work=[[Correio da Manhã (Portugal)|Correio da Manhã]] |date=28 April 2022 |url=https://www.cmjornal.pt/sociedade/detalhe/60-dos-bebes-em-portugal-sao-filhos-de-pais-nao-casados|access-date=16 June 2023 |language=pt}}</ref>

In the United States, over the past few decades there has been an increase in unmarried couples cohabiting.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Larry L. Bumpass |author2=James A. Sweet |title=National Estimates of Cohabitation |journal=Demography |date=1 November 1989 |volume=26 |issue=4 |pages=615–625 |doi=10.2307/2061261|jstor=2061261 |pmid=2583320 |s2cid=46118819 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Historically, Western countries have been influenced by [[Religion and sexuality#Christianity|Christian doctrine on sex]], which opposes unmarried cohabitation. As social norms have changed, such beliefs have become less widely held and some Christian denominations view cohabitation as a precursor to [[Christian views on marriage|marriage]].<ref name="Taylor2005">{{cite book |last=Taylor |first=Ina |title=Religion and Life with Christianity |year=2005 |publisher=[[Heinemann (publisher)|Heinemann]] |isbn=9780435302283 |page=45 |quote=Some Protestant groups, although preferring sex to exist exclusively in a married relationship, understand times have changed. These Christians are prepared to accept cohabitation if it is a prelude to marriage.}}</ref> [[Pope Francis]] has performed the marriages of cohabiting couples who had children,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-15/pope-francis-marries-20-couples-in-first-mass-papal-ceremony/5743838 |title=Pope Francis breaks taboo by marrying cohabiting couples, conducts mass wedding ceremony |work=ABC News |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |date=15 September 2014}}</ref> while former [[archbishop of Canterbury]] [[Rowan Williams]]<ref>{{cite news |title=The no-sex 'myth' |work=[[BBC News]] |date=3 October 2002 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk/2296151.stm |access-date=11 February 2019 |quote=An absolute declaration that every sexual partnership must conform to the pattern of commitment or else have the nature of sin and nothing else is unreal and silly.}}</ref> and the archbishop of York [[John Sentamu]] have expressed tolerance of cohabitation.<ref>{{cite news |first1=Tim |last1=Ross |first2=Jonathan |last2=Wynne-Jones |first3=Gordon |last3=Rayner |date=29 April 2011 |title=Royal wedding: Archbishop backs William and Kate's decision to live together before marriage |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/royal-wedding/8481736/Royal-wedding-Archbishop-backs-William-and-Kates-decision-to-live-together-before-marriage.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=3 August 2013 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/royal-wedding/8481736/Royal-wedding-Archbishop-backs-William-and-Kates-decision-to-live-together-before-marriage.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-status=live |newspaper=The Telegraph |location=London}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

In recent decades, high rates of participation of women in the workforce and the widespread availability of highly effective [[Long-acting reversible contraception|long acting reversible contraceptives]]<ref>{{cite journal |title=The reproductive context of cohabitation in comparative perspective: Contraceptive use in the United States, Spain, and France |journal=Demographic Research |author1=Megan M. Sweeney |author2=Teresa Castro-Martin |author3-link=Melinda Mills |author3=Melinda Mills |volume=32 |pages=147–182 |doi=10.4054/DemRes.2015.32.5 |url=http://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol32/5/32-5.pdf |year=2015 |doi-access=free}}</ref> has led to women making individual choices over their reproduction with decreased reliance on male partners for financial stability. All these changes favored alternative living arrangements to marriage.<ref>{{cite thesis |type=doctor rerum politicarum |publisher=University of Rostock |url=http://demogr.mpg.de/publications%5Cfiles%5C3367_1248875633_1_Full%20Text.pdf |title=Non-Marital Cohabitation in Italy |author=Christin Löffler|date=31 March 2009}}</ref>

In Central and Eastern Europe, during the late 1980s and early 1990s, there were major political changes, such as the fall of Communist governments. These societies entered a new era of increased social freedom, less rigid rules, and less authoritarian governments. They interacted with Western Europe and some became members of the European Union. As a result, the patterns of family life started to change: marriage rates have declined, and marriage was postponed to a later age. Cohabitation and births to unmarried mothers increased, and in some countries the increase was quick.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Thornton A, Philipov D |title=Sweeping Changes in Marriage, Cohabitation, and Childbearing in Central and Eastern Europe: New Insights from the Developmental Idealism Framework |journal=European Journal of Population |volume=25 |issue=2 |pages=123–156 |year=2009 |pmid=19498956 |pmc=2690230 |doi=10.1007/s10680-009-9181-2 }}</ref>

The ''deinstitutionalization of marriage'' refers to the weakening of the social and legal norms that regulate peoples' behavior in regard to marriage.<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Deinstitutionalization of American Marriage|journal = Journal of Marriage and Family|volume = 66|issue = 4|pages = 848–861|jstor = 3600162|last1 = Cherlin|first1 = Andrew J.|year = 2004|doi = 10.1111/j.0022-2445.2004.00058.x}}</ref> The rise in cohabitation is part of other major social changes such as higher divorce rate, older age at first marriage and childbearing, and more births outside marriage. Factors such as secularization, increased participation of women in the labor force, changes in the meaning of marriage, risk reduction, individualism, and changing views on sexuality have been cited as contributing to these social changes.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://epc2008.princeton.edu/papers/80065 |author=Ernestina Coast |title=Currently cohabiting: relationship expectations and outcomes in the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) |publisher=[[Princeton University]] |access-date=11 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213091038/http://epc2008.princeton.edu/papers/80065 |archive-date=2013-12-13 |url-status=dead}}</ref> There has also been a change in modern [[sexual ethics]], with a focus on consent, rather than marital status (i.e. decriminalization of [[adultery]] and [[fornication]]; criminalization of [[marital rape]]), reflecting new concepts on the role and purpose of sexual interaction, and new conceptualizations of [[female sexuality]] and of self-determination.<ref>{{cite book |title=Yes Means Yes! Visions of Female Sexual Power and a World Without Rape |last=Friedman |first=Jaclyn |author2=Jessica Valenti |year=2008 |publisher=Seal Press |isbn=978-1-58005-257-3 |author2-link=Jessica Valenti |url=https://archive.org/details/yesmeansyes00frie |url-access=registration}}</ref> There have been objections against the legal and social regulation of female sexuality; with such regulations being often seen as violations of [[women's rights]].{{efn|High Commissioner for Human Rights [[Navi Pillay]] has called for full respect and recognition of women's autonomy and sexual and reproductive health rights, stating: "Violations of women's human rights are often linked to their sexuality and reproductive role. Women are frequently treated as property, they are sold into marriage, into trafficking, into sexual slavery. (...) In many countries, married women may not refuse to have sexual relations with their husbands, and often have no say in whether they use contraception. (...) Ensuring that women have full autonomy over their bodies is the first crucial step towards achieving substantive equality between women and men. Personal issues – such as when, how and with whom they choose to have sex, and when, how and with whom they choose to have children – are at the heart of living a life in dignity."<ref>{{cite web |type=Lecture |author=Navi Pillay |date=15 May 2012 |title=Valuing Women as Autonomous Beings: Women's Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights |work=Helen Kanzira Lecture |place=Pretoria |publisher=University of Pretoria - Centre for Human Rights |url=http://www.chr.up.ac.za/images/files/news/news_2012/Navi%20Pillay%20Lecture%2015%20May%202012.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170313210726/http://www.chr.up.ac.za/images/files/news/news_2012/Navi%20Pillay%20Lecture%2015%20May%202012.pdf|archive-date=13 March 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref>}} In addition, some individuals may feel that marriage is unnecessary or outdated, leading to couples not formalizing their relation.<ref name="Elena von der Lippe">{{cite conference |conference=XXV International Population Conference of the International Union for the Scientific Study of the Population |place=Tours, France |date=July 18–23, 2005 |title=Contemporary union formation in Bulgaria: the emergence of cohabitation |author=Elena von der Lippe (Koytcheva) |via=ResearchGate |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/200166754 |access-date=22 August 2015}} DRAFT VERSION: Do not cite or quote.</ref> For instance, in the European Values Study (EVS) of 2008, the percentage of respondents who agreed with the assertion that "Marriage is an outdated institution" was 37.5% in Luxembourg, 35.4% in France, 34.3% in Belgium, 31.2% in Spain, 30.5% in Austria, 29.2% in Germany, 27.7% in Switzerland, 27.2% in Bulgaria, 27.0% in the Netherlands, 25.0% in Slovenia.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://zacat.gesis.org/webview/index.jsp?study=http%3A%2F%2F193.175.238.79%3A80%2Fobj%2FfStudy%2FZA4783&variable=http%3A%2F%2F193.175.238.79%3A80%2Fobj%2FfVariable%2FZA4783_V252&mode=documentation&submode=variable&top=yes&language=en |title=Variable v238: do you justify: adultery (Q68F) |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200218080449/https://zacat.gesis.org/webview/index.jsp?study=http%3A%2F%2F193.175.238.79%3A80%2Fobj%2FfStudy%2FZA4783&variable=http%3A%2F%2F193.175.238.79%3A80%2Fobj%2FfVariable%2FZA4783_V252&mode=documentation&submode=variable&top=yes&language=en |archive-date=18 February 2020}} See for each country: Variable Description – Family – Q 45.{{better source|date=June 2023|reason=Original URL is dead and archive page does not return the data with these instructions.}}</ref>

The fact that many couples choose to live together without formalizing their relation is also recognized by the European Union. A 2004 directive forbids EU members from denying entry or residence of [[Domestic partnership|partners]] "with whom the Union citizen has a durable relationship, duly attested."<ref>{{Cite web |date=30 April 2004 |title=Directive 2004/38/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the right of citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States |work=Official Journal of the European Union |url=http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2004:229:0035:0048:en:PDF |access-date=7 August 2022}}</ref>