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In this chapter, we trace the geography of unmarried cohabitation in the Americas on an unprecedented geographical scale in family demography. We present the percentage of partnered women aged 25–29 in cohabitation across more than 19,000 local units of 39 countries, from Canada to Argentina, at two points in time, 2000 and 2010. The local geography is supplemented by a regional geography of cohabitation that covers five decades of data from 1960 to 2010. Our data derive primarily from the rich collection of census microdata amassed by the (CELADE) of the United Nations and from the IPUMS-international collection of harmonized census microdata samples (Minnesota Population Center, Integrated public use microdata series, international: Version 6.3 [Machine-readable database]. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, 2014). Our analyses unveil a substantial amount of spatial heterogeneity both within and across countries. Despite the spectacular rise in cohabitation, its regional patterning has remained relatively unchanged over the last decades, which points to the presence of geo-historical legacies in the present patterns of unmarried cohabitation.

This chapter offers a general overview of the often spectacular rise of the share of cohabitation in the process of union formation in 24 Latin American and Caribbean countries during the last 30 years of the twentieth and the first decade of the twenty-first century. First, we offer a brief ethnographic and historical sketch to illustrate the special position of many Latin American regions and sub-populations with respect to forms of partnership formation other than classic marriage. Second, we present the national trends in the rising share of cohabitation in union formation for men and women for the age groups 25–29 and 30–34. Third, we inspect the education and social class differentials by presenting the cross-sectional gradients over time. Fourth, we reflect on the framework of the “second demographic transition” and hence on the de-stigmatization of a number of other behaviors that were equally subject to strong normative restrictions in the past (e.g. divorce, abortion, homosexuality, suicide and euthanasia). Last, we deal with the household and family contexts of married persons and cohabitors respectively.

In this chapter, we look at unmarried cohabitation in Canada with a focus on regional differences. The high level of unmarried cohabitation in Quebec is known since the 1980s. Consequently, a substantial part of the research on unmarried cohabitation in Canada has actually focused on Quebec, and most of the research that has not focused on Quebec has dealt with Canada as a single unit. We use data from census and two surveys to examine the individual factors that could explain the differences in the spread of unmarried cohabitation between Quebec and the rest of Canada. Analyses lead to conclude that the differences arise from the institutional settings rather than being related to individual characteristics. Quebec law uses unmarried cohabitation and marriage to accommodate two competing views of gender equality—one that rests on the assumption that spouses should be as economically independent as possible during and after marriage, while the other contends that equality implies dependence even after separation or divorce—whereas in the rest of Canada, law implements only the second one, more in marriage, but also in unmarried cohabitation. The analyses also point to differences within English Canada that, as far as we know, had not been noticed in previous research: unmarried cohabitation seems to be more common in Eastern Canada than in Western Canada, which might be related to immigration.

US studies of marriage and cohabitation have mainly highlighted the social and racial differentials as they were observed in cross-sections, and have as a result essentially focused on the “pattern of disadvantage”. The evolution of such social differentials over time and space reveals that this pattern of disadvantage has clearly persisted, but that it is far from covering the whole story. Historically, there has been a major contribution to the rise of cohabitation by white college students, and later on young white adults with higher education continued to start unions via cohabitation to ever increasing degrees. Only, they seem to move into marriage to a greater extent later on in life than other population segments. Also, the religious affiliation matters greatly: Mormons and evangelical Christians have resisted the current trends. Furthermore this effect is not only operating at the individual but at the contextual level as well. Conversely, even after controls for competing socio-economic explanations, residence in areas (either counties or PUMA-areas) with a Democratic voting pattern is related to higher cohabitation probabilities. And, finally, different legal contexts at the level of States also significantly contributed to the emergence of strong spatial contrasts. Hence, there is a concurrence of several factors shaping the present differentiations, and the rise of secular and liberal attitudes, i.e. the “ethics revolution”, is equally a part of the explanation.

In this chapter we use census microdata to examine trends in cohabitation in Mexico between 1930 and 2010. The microdata reveal a dramatic increase in cohabitation since the 1990s. By being able to go further back in time than in the other countries examined in this book, we better document the phase that preceded the post-1990 cohabitation boom. This earlier phase was characterized by the systematic reduction in cohabitation in favor of marriages, which results in an overall U-shaped evolution of cohabitation for the entire period between 1930 and 2010. Judging from the mere cross-sectional profiles and results from multilevel models, one could conclude that recent cohabitation replicates historical differentials. However, several features emerge that strongly mitigate this historical inheritance and fits the Second Demographic Transition theory. Among others, these features include that cohabitation is now a “normal” form of partnership among the expanding top educational groups and that the shift from marriage to prolonged cohabitation is driven by further secularization and an overall shift in values. Time will tell how fast and to what degree the shift to the SDT-type will be occurring in Mexico, but at present it is clear that the shift away from the traditional type is under way.

Central America has a long history of family formation via consensual union instead of formal marriage. The historically high levels of cohabitation have persisted throughout the twentieth century up to the present day and can be traced in the remarkably high levels of nonmarital childbearing in the region. This chapter reviews past and recent trends in the prevalence of consensual unions in six Central American countries – Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama – in order to ascertain whether cohabitation has reached an upper ceiling in the region and whether the apparent stability at the aggregate level conceals significant changes in cohabiting patterns across social groups. The analyses reveal that the expansion of cohabitation has not come to an end so far, largely because of the recent increase in consensual unions among the higher educated strata. The historically negative educational gradient of cohabitation remains largely in place, but differentials in union patterns across countries and across social groups have narrowed considerably in the past two decades.

In this chapter we use census microdata to document the rise in cohabitation in Colombia and in the Andean countries of Ecuador, Bolivia, Perú and Venezuela over the last four decades. We use multilevel logistic regression models to examine the effect of individual and contextual variables on cohabitation. We show the individual and contextual effects of social stratification, ethnicity and religion on cohabitation. Cohabitation levels follow a negative gradient with education and vary according to ethnic background. The Bolivian, Ecuadorian and Peruvian censuses reveal that the two largest ethnic groups (i.e. the Quechua and Aymara) have, controlling for other characteristics, the lowest incidence of cohabitation. By contrast, Afro-American populations show the highest levels of cohabitation. The joint use of individual- and contextual-level explanatory variables is sufficient to account for the majority of Bolivia’s internal diversity regarding cohabitation, but not sufficient to account for the internal diversity identified in Colombia, Peru or Ecuador. Even after controls, residence in the Andes mountain areas continues to be a factor associated with lower levels of cohabitation. This invites further investigations on how the institutionalization of marriage occurred in the Andes.

The availability of the micro data in the IPUMS samples for several censuses spanning a period of 40 years permits a detailed study of differentials and trends in cohabitation in Brazil than has hitherto been the case. The gist of the story is that the historical race/class and religious differentials and the historical spatial contrasts have largely been maintained, but are now operating at much higher levels than in the 1970s. During the last 40 years cohabitation has dramatically increased in all strata of the Brazilian population, and it has spread geographically to all areas in tandem with further expansions in the regions that had historically higher levels to start with. Moreover, the probability of cohabiting depends not only on individual-level characteristics but also on additional contextual effects operating at the level of meso-regions. The rise of cohabitation in Brazil fits the model of the “Second demographic transition”, but it is grafted onto a historical pattern which is still manifesting itself in a number of ways.

This chapter analyses the increase in cohabitation in the Southern Cone (Argentina, Chile and Uruguay) and attempts to determine the extent to which consensual unions and marriages have similar traits or differ in the context of the cohabitation boom (Esteve et al. 2012).

The first section of the chapter reviews the historical context of cohabitation in the Southern Cone. The second section uses census and survey data to analyse the trends in conjugal union formation in the three countries during the last 40 years. We analyse the patterns of both childbearing and union formation, as well as the differences between marriage and cohabitation based on educational attainment, labour market participation and household structure.

The purpose of this analysis is to better understand whether the behaviour of married and cohabiting women with different characteristics are converging or diverging over time and tentatively, whether more egalitarian gender relationships are emerging in both types of conjugal unions.

In this concluding chapter we reflect on a series of issues of both a methodological and substantive nature encountered in this research project. Firstly, we must realize that the use of individual census records not only opened vast possibilities, but also entails a number of limitations. Secondly, the very large sample sizes allowed for the disaggregation of national trends into far more detailed spatial, ethnic and educational patterns. This, in its turn, allowed us to adopt a “geo-historical” view of the rise of cohabitation for almost the entire American continent, from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. Furthermore, statistical analyses could be performed at the individual and contextual levels simultaneously. Results show that the effects of social stratification, religion and ethnicity are continuing to be of major importance. This not only holds at the individual level, but at the contextual level as well. Nevertheless, an entirely new wave of change started rolling over the pre-existing patterns from the 1970s onward. These trends are following a firm course, irrespective of the economic ups and downs. The Americas, as opposed to many Asian societies and Africa, are now following in the European footsteps, be it with their own distinct and path-dependent characteristics associated with regionally varying historical antecedents.