Territorial and Social Divisions of Non-Marital Cohabitation in Colombia

Anny Carolina Saavedra Morales, Centre d'Estudis Demogràfics (CED)
Joana Serret, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

In the current context of diversity family forms, this study attempts to document and explain the spectacular increase of non marital cohabitation in Colombia over the last decades. To this purpose, we use explanatory variables of socio-demographic character in a geographic and historical perspective. In this sense, this research has two aims: the first is to establish internal geographic differences at the province level; the second is to explain these differences through individual characteristics and the influence of social phenomena such as educational expansion, urbanization, migration and female activity. In this case, we selected data from the last four census rounds in Colombia (1973, 1985, 1993, 2005). The first results show an apparent association between cohabitation and areas with a high prevalence of non-mixed populations (black and Indian groups) and sparsely populated regions. Furthermore, we observe how the differences by education level are diminishing, especially at early ages.