Adult partnership patterns, such as marriage or cohabitation, give a broad indication of family structure. Traditional forms of partnership, such as marriage, and non-traditional forms, such as cohabitation, can be considered. Family structure has implications for child well-being, including the chances of a child being poor.

Marriage was the most common form of partnership across the OECD for the period 2006-09. On average more than half of adults aged 15 or over were married (Table 4.1.). Marriage was particularly common in Japan and Turkey where about two thirds of peoples were married. The proportion of adults married was low, under 45%, in France, and particularly low in Chile and Estonia where fewer than 40% of adults were married.

Cohabitation with a domestic partner was high among countries with low marriage rates (Table 4.1.). In Estonia, Iceland, Finland and Sweden about one in five adults cohabited with a domestic partner. Cohabitation was also higher than average elsewhere in the Nordic area. Cohabitation was uncommon in Greece, Israel, Japan, Korea and Turkey, where 0% of adults reported cohabiting.

The proportion of people divorced or separated and not re-partnered was low among the OECD countries. On average only 4% of adults were divorced and only one per cent was separated and in both cases not re-partnered (Table 4.1.). The prevalence of divorced people varied from a low of around 0 to 1% in Chile, Italy, Korea and Turkey, to a high of 9% in the Czech Republic and Estonia. Significant separation rates were only reported in Chile and Mexico.

An average of 6% of all adults were widows (or widowers) (Table 4.1.). The proportion varied from a low of 3% in Iceland, Korea and Turkey, to a high of 10% in France and Hungary. In general, the proportion of widows was higher in countries where there is a larger difference between the life expectancy of men and women.

Most children - three quarters on average - lived with married parents (Figure GE4.2). Across the OECD, 15% of children lived with one parent, 11% lived with cohabiting parents, and only one per cent lived without parents. The proportion of children in lone-parent families was particularly high in the United States, where more than one in four children lived with just one parent. Fewer than one in ten children were in lone-parent families in Greece, Luxembourg and Spain.

Further reading

OECD (2010a), OECD Family Database, OECD Publishing, Paris, www.oecd.org/els/social/family/database.

Figure notes

Data in Table 4.1. refers to 2006 for the Slovak Republic and Switzerland; 2007 for the Czech Republic; 2008 for Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and Turkey; 2009 for all other countries. Source: Gallup World Poll, 2010.

In Figure GE4.2, data were 2005 for Canada Japan, Switzerland and the United States; 2006 for Australia and New Zealand. For Australia, Japan, New Zealand and Switzerland cohabiting and married parents are grouped together. OECD average does not include Australia, Japan, New Zealand and Switzerland because figures for two parents cohabiting/married are not available separately. Children were defined as under 15 years old in Canada and New Zealand, and under 18 for all other countries.

Information on data for Israel: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/888932315602.