Editing Cohabitation (section)

====Germany====
Until the 1980s, it was illegal for unmarried couples to cohabitate, which made it impossible for many same-sex couples to live together. At this point the [[Bundesgerichtshof]] ruled that cohabitation could not be banned as it was protected by the [[Basic Law]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Von 1933 bis heute: Lesben und Schwule in Deutschland und der DDR |url=https://www.lsvd.de/de/ct/934-von-1933-bis-heute-lesben-und-schwule-in-deutschland-und-der-ddr |website=www.lsvd.de |access-date=1 November 2021 |language=de}}</ref>
As in other western societies, patterns of family life have been changing in Germany during the past decades. This has not created a [[moral panic]], but has been seen more as an ongoing social evolution.<ref name="lawfamger">{{cite web |url=http://lawfam.oxfordjournals.org/content/15/1/88.short |url-status=dead|archive-date=19 January 2015|archive-url=https://archive.today/20150119081510/http://lawfam.oxfordjournals.org/content/15/1/88.short|title=Cohabitation in Germany – rules, reality and public discourses |work=oxfordjournals.org|access-date=13 January 2016}}</ref> Cohabitation, divorce rates, lone parents, and people's reluctance to marry or to have children have increased.<ref name="lawfamger"/> However, with regards to family formation and long term cohabitation instead of marriage, there are very strong differences between the regions of former [[West Germany]] and [[East Germany]] (which was formally Communist). Significantly more children are born out of wedlock in eastern Germany than in western Germany. In 2012, in eastern Germany 61.6% of births were to unmarried women, while in western Germany only 28.4% were.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Klärner |first=Andreas |date=22 July 2015 |title=The low importance of marriage in eastern Germany – social norms and the role of peoples' perceptions of the past |url=https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol33/9/33-9.pdf |access-date=7 August 2022 |website=Demographic Research}}</ref> A [[Panel data|longitudinal survey]] found that union stability was significantly higher for cohabiting mothers in eastern Germany than western Germany, due to differences in German society.<ref name="germanypmc">{{cite journal |vauthors=Schnor C |title=The Effect of Union Status at First Childbirth on Union Stability: Evidence from Eastern and Western Germany |journal=Eur J Popul |volume=30 |issue= 2|pages=129–160 |year=2014 |pmid=24882913 |pmc=4037585 |doi=10.1007/s10680-013-9304-7}}</ref>