Table 2.

Descriptive overview of differences between cohabiting and married individuals aged 40–49 for the US, UK, Australia, Germany, and Norway

	US		UK		Australia		Germany		Norway
	COH	MAR	COH	MAR	COH	MAR	COH	MAR	COH	MAR
Age (40–49)	40.9	40.8	43.6	44.1	43.6	44.5	44.4	44.6	43.7	44.6
Mean/SD	1.1	1.0	3.6	3.7	2.9	2.9	2.9	2.8	2.9	2.9
Gender (%)
Male	55	51	51	49	54	47	52	49	46	45
Female	45	49	49	51	46	53	48	51	54	55
Background
Geographic residence (%)
1	18	17	37	34	37	34	24	15	15	20
2	26	29	22	20	63	66	76	85	35	27
3	34	36	10	9	–	–	–	–	24	38
4	22	18	31	37	–	–	–	–	26	15
Respondent’s nativity (%)
Born in country	96	96	92	85	84	67	89	77	95	93
Born outside country	4	4	8	15	16	33	11	23	5	7
Parents’ nativity (%)
Both parents native	87	86	69	54	42	49	88	90	94	90
At least one parent foreign	13	14	31	46	58	51	12	10	6	10
Ethnicitya (%)
Majority within country	72	85	94	80	94	99	–	–	–	–
Minority	28	15	6	20	6	1	–	–	–	–
Childhood selection mechanisms
Parental separation (%)
Yes	36	21	28	20	24	15	23	14	10	7
No	64	79	72	80	76	85	77	86	90	93
Mother’s age at birth (%)
< 20 years	30	14	14	13	–	–	8	9	7	5
21–25 years	39	28	36	35	–	–	38	31	26	29
26–30 years	16	30	32	31	–	–	24	30	26	29
30 + years	15	27	18	21	–	–	30	30	41	37
Mother’s education (%)
Low	43	30	72	73	56	57	20	31	46	43
Medium	49	59	20	20	29	28	71	58	47	46
High	7	11	8	7	15	15	9	11	7	11
Father’s education (%)
Low	44	32	62	57	36	39	9	16	44	31
Medium	46	48	29	31	49	43	74	66	48	49
High	11	20	9	12	15	18	17	18	8	20
Mother’s employ. status (%)
Not employed	48	46	29	34	44	43	21	30	35	33
Employed	52	54	71	66	55	57	79	70	65	67
Father’s occupation (%)
Not employed	7	5	8	8	8	9	8	6	2	3
Low	48	36	58	50	24	22	23	24	70	63
Medium	24	26	9	10	31	29	41	40	24	29
High	21	33	25	32	37	40	28	30	4	5
Union characteristics
Union duration	3.8	13.3	11.0	17.6	11.4	16.4	8.2	15.6	13.3	19.3
Mean/SD	4.4	6.4	7.5	6.	8.0	7.4	5.9	8.2	6.2	6.0
Number of children (%)
No children	26	12	39	27	35	7	39	8	19	5
1	17	18	26	26	20	12	32	19	14	10
2	27	41	24	33	27	43	17	48	34	40
3+	30	29	11	14	18	38	12	25	23	55
Ever separated (%)
No previous cohab. union	45	80	34	77	41	87	27	40	53	78
Separated or divorced	55	20	66	23	59	13	73	60	47	22
Respondent’s socio-economic background
Education (%)
Low	15	7	20	15	34	29	5	7	28	23
Medium	72	63	43	37	39	34	68	61	45	45
High	13	30	37	48	27	37	27	32	27	32
Employment status (%)
Out of labor force	15	12	11	11	13	12	3	11	9	8
Unemployed	5	2	7	3	3	2	9	4	1	1
Employed	80	86	82	86	84	86	88	85	90	91
Total N	576	4874	1583	7226	258	1732	617	4910	232	1303

^aEthnicity and race are not included in the Norwegian and German surveys. In Australia, this refers to non-indigenous and indigenous