The spectacular rise of cohabitation in Colombia: pushing its spatial and social boundaries

Anny Carolina Saavedra Morales, Centre d’Estudis Demogràfics (CED)

In the current context of diversity family forms, this study attempts to document and explain the often spectacular increase of non marital cohabitation in Latin America. We take the case of Colombia and examine the expansion of cohabitation in this region. 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 (Municipalities); 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 the labour market. The micro-data comes from the IPUMS international project database. In this case, we selected data from the last four census rounds in Colombia which correspond to the years 1973, 1985, 1993 and 2005. At present, we are finishing the preliminary results regarding the descriptive and cartographic phases. 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 a how the differences by education level are diminishing, especially at early ages.