2010 census: marriages down, cohabiting up

Santo Domingo.- The 2010 censusrevealed that 34.9% of the population over the age of 15 is in a consensualrelationship, double the percentage of married couples, which represent 17.4%.

Ministry of Economy, Planning andDevelopment demographer Antonio Morillo Pérez, who works at the Economic andSocial Analysis Unit, said that marriage and cohabitation trends had undergonesignificant changes over the last five decades.

He said that there was a generalreduction in marriages from 31% of the population in 1970 to 17% in 2010.

In parallel, there has been a sharprise in the number of consensual unions, from 25% in 1970 to 35% in 2010.

The geographical variations are alsoworth noting. The largest gap between types of union is found in the borderregion. In Bahoruco for every 100 marriages there are 566 consensual unions,while in the National District the ratio is 100 formal unions to 108 informalunions.