Cohabitees more likely to separate

Introduction: UAntwerp scientists carried out in-depth study of 'invisible wave of separations' and conclude: couples who do not marry tend to split up much more quickly. Couples who do not marry tend to split up much more quickly than couples who do tie the knot - that is the striking conclusion reached by researchers from the University of Antwerp, who have been following almost 20 000 couples since 1999. Belgium is known for its very high divorce rates, but most official statistics only take married couples into account. Sociologists from the University of Antwerp examined relationship stability among unmarried cohabiting couples, finding that separation rates are much higher for cohabiting couples than for married couples. This means that the official statistics on divorce do not tell the full story and may actually hide an important - but invisible - wave of separations among cohabiting couples. During their study, the researchers compared the separation rates of cohabiting and married couples in Belgium. "We learnt that major differences also exist within the group of cohabiting couples," says Prof. Dimitri Mortelmans.