French women and men live less and less as a couple, according to INSEE figures in 2019

According to INSEE, in 2019 in France, 31 million people live as a couple in the same dwelling, i.e. 59% of the population aged 18 or over. A figure in slight, but constant, decrease since the 1980s. This proportion was 62% in 1999, 64% in 1990 and 62% between 1962 and 1982.

Among the youngest, 25% of women and 14% of men aged 20 to 24 live as a couple, against 54% of women and 32% of men in 1975, almost always as a married couple, underlines INSEE. The proportion of married couples is falling drastically among 20-24 year olds with only 4% of women and 2% of men in this age group living as a married couple in 2019. These proportions have been falling since the 2010s, which may be linked to the rise in school enrollment rates at these ages and the rise in youth unemployment, specifies INSEE.

Graduates more often live with a partner than non-graduates

Among the oldest, INSEE notes an increase in living as a couple, which can be explained by the drop in mortality among men over 70 and therefore the decline in widowhood. Thus, 26% of women aged 80 to 89 still live in a couple in 2019 compared to 16% in 1999. The proportion of men in a couple at an advanced age, 65% for those over 80 to 89, remains much higher than this proportion among women because there are more widows than widowers, specifies INSEE.

In 2019, French women and men with diplomas aged 30 to 39 more often live as a couple than French men and women without diplomas. Seven out of ten holders of a bac+5 live in the same accommodation as their spouse, against six out of ten people without diplomas, according to INSEE. Before 2000, women without diplomas more often lived in a couple than their qualified counterparts.