Common-Law Relationships
Outnumber Marriages
More couples under the
age of 30 are preferring
to live in "unión libre"
(common-law
relationship) that
marriage, according to
preliminary data from
the Instituto Nacional
de Estadística y Censos
(INEC), which shows that
those between the ages
of 15 and 30 chose
common-law to marriage
(177.000 to 144.000).
2007 was the third
consecutive year were
common-law relationships
outnumber marriages.
The provinces that are
an exception are Heredia
and Cartago.
Luis Rosero Bixby,
director of the Centro
Centroamericano de
Población, of the
Universidad de Costa
Rica (UCR), explained in
the past common-law
relationships were
exclusive to marginal
groups in the coastal
areas.
In the provinces of
Puntarenas, Guanacaste
and Limón the number of
common-law relationships
is almost double that of
marriages.
Teresa Castro, a Spanish
investigator for the UCR,
explained that many
couples are now choosing
"marriage without
papers" in Central
America for many
reasons, one being
economic, as couples
prefer to live on the
margin of institutions
rather than in a
traditional role.
Castro explains that the
common motive is
maintained from the
colonial era and that
common-law is cheaper,
while a marriage needs
to incur costs for a
ceremony and hassles
with paperwork.
Castro added that in
"modern" times, couples
choose common-law
relationships in their
rejection of
institutional ideology
in their private lives.
That resistance is also
seen as an acquiring of
autonomy on the part of
women, according to
Castro. |
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