1996. ÉVI MIKROCENZUS Az élettársi kapcsolatban élők adatai (1998)

AZ ÉLETTÁRSI KAPCSOLATBAN ÉLŐK TÁRSADALMI-DEMOGRÁFIAI JELLEMZŐI ÉS LAKÁSVISZONYAI

share of adults aged 30-39 - similarly to the cohabiting partners - decreased in both sexes, while the proportion of those aged 40-59 increased only among legal spouses. The share of consensual unions with both partners aged under 30 only slightly exceeded 15 percent. It doubled till 1996, while the relevant rate within married couples remained practically unchanged (10 percent). The proportion of consensual unions with cohabitants aged 60 or more, has diminished by 3 percentage points to 6 percent since 1990, which is two-thirds of the respective share among married couples. Despite the nearing of their age composition to that of legal spouses, the share of consensual unions with rather large age differences between cohabiting partners is still far higher than in the case of married couples. This is particularly true among couples where the woman is older: the rate of consensual unions where the female partner is by at least five years older than the male partner, is six times higher than the relevant proportion within married couples. In 1996, in 5 percent of consensual unions in the capital city both partners were of the same age, while the respective share within married couples is 9 percent. The diíference is far less in other towns, where more than 7 percent of cohabitants and 9 percent of spouses are of the same age. In rural areas, in this respect, the shares don't differ (7-7 percent). The proportions of couples where the woman is older, by the categories of locality, give an interesting picture. In the case of consensual unions, the type of locality doesn't influence the frequency of these couples: their share is 29 percent both in the capital and other towns, and 30 percent in rural areas. The respective shares among married couples are significantly lower with more considerable dififerences: the proportion of couples where the wife is older, is 16 percent in the capital, 13 in other úrban areas, while only 11 percent in rural areas. The share of never married cohabiting partners in both sexes has increased considerably since 1990. The share of never married female cohabitants was 26 percent in 1990, while 44 in 1996. The proportion of never married male cohabitants was even higher: their share has risen by 17 percentage points to 51 percent for six years. The increase of never married cohabitants is related to the fact that young people in Hungary alsó tend to prefer partnership by cohabition instead of marriage. At present, only 7 percent of female cohabitants, and 6 percent of male cohabitants are married, and this latter proportion is alsó true for widowed males. In the early nineties, more than the half (53 percent) of consensual unions had partners of the same marital status. The most frequent were couples with widowed partners (28 percent), while married partners lived together the most rarely (3 percent). The share of consensual unions with partners of the same marital status increased to 60 percent till 1996, the most frequent type of partnership became that with never married partners (34 percent), while the share of those with married partners remained the lowest (1.5-2 percent). The proportion of cohabitations with divorced partners is 21 percent. The educational attainment of cohabiting partners in Hungary is different from that in Northern and Western Europe, where this form is more charasteristic among highly educated strata, while in Hungary, the educational attainment of cohabiting partners is lower than that of legal spouses. It is true despite the fact that at the same time, it grows more rapidly than that of legal spouses, resulting together with the impact of the decreasing age composition - in the decrease of the large difference in the educational level between the two types of family. In 1996, the educational attainment of 14 percent of female cohabiting partners didn't reach the 8th grade of generál school completed, and more than 40 percent had generál scholl completed only. 25 percent completed at least secondary, and 6.5 percent third-level education. The share of 18