The study focused on all couples who started cohabiting in 2003, whether married or unmarried. The share of intact relationships was determined by using the Kaplan-Meier survival curves. Here, a divorce is defined on the basis of the living situation. If the two partners were no longer living together at the same address by the end of a certain year, and not cohabiting again one year later, this is identified as a divorce starting in the intervening year. For example: in the case of a couple cohabiting at the same address on 31 December 2004 but no longer registered as such on 31 December 2005, this is identified as a divorce starting from 2005. In cases where the two partners were cohabiting again at the same address on 31 December 2006, no divorce is registered starting from 2005. Therefore, even in the case of official marriages, a dissolution is not taken into account; only the actual living situation of both partners. The analysis of marriages still intact after eight years contains all married and unmarried couples who started cohabiting in 2003 and who were married between 2003 and 2015. Here as well, divorces are recorded by using the Kaplan-Meier survival curves.
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