For the first time, the proportion of Brazilians living in consensual conjugal unions surpasses the proportion of religious and civil marriages. In 2022, 38.9% of conjugal unions were consensual, meaning the spouses did not marry. There are 35.1 million people in situations such as stable unions, for example.
This proportion was 28.6% in 2000 and 36.4% in 2010. The finding is in the Nuptiality and Family supplement of the 2022 Census, released this Wednesday (5) by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
The comparative data are from years in which there was a demographic census. In the opposite direction to consensual unions, civil and religious marriages went from 49.4% of the total unions in 2000 to 37.9% in 2022. In the 1970 Census, they were 64.5%.
Religious marriages alone fell from 4.4% to 2.6% in the same period. Civil marriages alone rose from 17.5% to 20.5%.
Going further back in time, the 1960 Census showed that 60.5% of relationships were formalized with civil and religious marriage, while consensual ones were only 6.4%.
Profile of consensual unions
The survey shows that consensual unions surpass civil and religious marriages in groups of people up to 39 years old.
In the 20 to 29 age group, consensual unions account for 24.8% of households with spouses. Civil and religious marriages are 5.8%.
In the 30 to 39 age group, the proportion is 28.5% consensual unions and 17.8% civil and religious marriages.
In the 50 to 59 age group, 22.1% of unions are civil and religious marriages, and consensual ones total 13%.
When observing per capita income (per person) of the spouses, consensual union cases surpass all other forms of marriage among those receiving up to one minimum wage.
By religion, consensual unions are more than half (62.5%) of couples without religion. Among Catholics, they are 40.9%; and among Evangelicals, 28.7%.
According to IBGE researcher Luciane Barros Longo, the growth of consensual unions shows a behavioral change in the country.
“We can say that the consensual union is still a younger phenomenon, more related to people with lower income,” evaluates the researcher.
A 2017 Supreme Federal Court decision determined that stable unions and marriages have the same legal value in terms of succession rights. One difference is that stable unions do not change civil status; the person remains single, divorced, widowed, for example.
More than half in union
The IBGE survey reveals that, in 2022, a little more than half (51.3%) of the population aged 10 or older lived in a conjugal relationship. There were 90.3 million people. In the 2000 Census, it was 49.5%.
People who had never lived in a conjugal union were 38.6% in 2010 and 30.1% in 2022. Those not living in a conjugal union but who had lived in one previously were 11.9% in 2010 and 18.6% in 2022.
The Census collected data from people starting at 10 years of age. The survey found 34.2 thousand in the 10 to 14 age group, with 77% female.
“The Census actually deals with reality. So that’s it, 34 thousand children are in conjugal unions. We can’t tell just from this data, for example, if it’s with another child or an adult… We’d have to do a more specific study for that,” explains researcher Luciane Barros Longo.
IBGE researcher Marcio Mitsuo Minamiguchi adds that there is a concentration of these cases at the end of the age group.
“If you took it by each age, it’s certainly very concentrated close to 14 years,” he evaluates.
Regarding the population aged 15 or older living in conjugal relationships, IBGE found that the average age of first union is 25 years. Separated by sex, women have a lower average age (23.6 years) than men (26.3 years).
With whom they relate
The Census also presents information on marital selectivity. The analysis indicates that the largest share (69.2%) of white women in conjugal unions pair with white partners as well.
Among Black women, the majority (48%) relate to brown men. Among brown women, 69.2% live with brown men.
The marital selectivity analysis for men shows that, among whites, 71.5% live with white women.
Among Black men, the majority (39.3%) relate to Black women. In the brown group, 70.2% are united with brown women.
Proportion of childless couple families nearly doubles in 22 years
In the last two decades, Brazil has seen the proportion of families formed by couples without children nearly double. The 2000 Census showed that the share of households with this configuration was 14.9%. In 2022, it jumped to 26.9%.
The finding is in the Nuptiality and Family supplement of the 2022 Census, released this Wednesday (5) by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
When IBGE adds up families formed by couples without children, it includes households where only the two spouses live and also addresses where couples live with some relative who is not a child of either.
According to IBGE, in recent decades there has been a change in family structure. “Greater participation of women in the labor market, low fertility rates, and population aging influenced the increase in the percentage of childless couples,” states the study.
Couples with children
In the opposite direction, the Census found that, for the first time since 2000, the proportion of couples with children represents less than half of the 61.2 million families identified.
In 2000, households housing couples with children were 63.6%. Ten years later, the share was 54.9%. The 2022 Census reveals 45.4%.
Among other family compositions, the census survey found in 2022:
• 13.5% formed by women without spouse with children
• 3.8% formed by woman without spouse with children and relatives
• 2% formed by man without spouse with children
• 0.6% formed by man without spouse with children and relatives
The IBGE survey considers families only people who live together and have kinship relations among themselves, that is, it does not take into account, for example, two students sharing a property.
Single-person households
Just as the share of homes with childless couples increased, the participation of single-person domestic units grew, those where only one person lives. In 2010, they were 12.2% of households, rising to 19.1% in 2022. This means that, out of every five domestic units in the country, one has only one resident. In the 12-year period, the number of people in this situation jumped from 4.1 million to 13.6 million.
Despite this increase in just over a decade, Brazil’s proportion of single-person households is below that seen in several countries, such as Finland (45.34%), Germany (41.1%), France (37.78%), Denmark (37.57%), and Italy (36.64%).
In the United Kingdom, the proportion is 30%, ahead of the United States (27.6%). In our neighbor Argentina, single-person households are 16.2% of homes.
IBGE identified that in Brazil the number of men (6.84 million) and women (6.78 million) living alone is practically equal. However, there are differences by age group. Up to 54 years, men are the majority among people living alone. In the 55 to 59 age group, there is balance, and from 60 years onward, women predominate in this group.
According to IBGE researcher Marcio Mitsuo Minamiguchi, the female predominance in older groups is explained by the fact that they live longer.
“Women are more long-lived,” he says, adding that men live more in conjugal unions at those ages. “They form couples to a greater extent,” he points out.
Same-sex unions grow more than 8 times in 12 years
The number of conjugal unions between same-sex people increased 728% in the country over 12 years. In the 2010 Census, 58 thousand were counted. In 2022, there were already 480 thousand. This difference represents growth of more than eight times.
The finding is in the Nuptiality and Family supplement of the 2022 Census, released this Wednesday (5) by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
In the 2010 Census, same-sex relationships represented 0.1% of the enumerated domestic units. In 2022, they rose to 0.7%.
IBGE researcher Luciane Barros Longo classifies the growth as “important” and one that accompanies societal transformations in recent years.
“Over these 12 years, we had a movement of greater formalization of these unions. There was also a societal transformation in which people had more freedom to assume their relationships,” she evaluates.
Profile of same-sex couples
IBGE’s count shows that, in 2022, 58% of couples were formed by women; and 42%, by men.
The 480 thousand conjugal unions were divided between religious marriages, civil marriages, and consensual unions, which include stable unions.
Stable unions and marriages have the same legal value in terms of succession rights. One difference is that stable unions do not change civil status; the person remains single, divorced, widowed, for example.
The most common type of same-sex union is consensual, accounting for 77.6% of couples. Followed by civil-only marriage (13.5%), civil and religious (7.7%), and religious-only (1.2%).
In 2011, a Supreme Federal Court (STF) decision equalized same-sex unions with heterosexual ones. Until then, registry offices needed judicial authorization to celebrate marriage between same-sex people.
The majority of spouses in same-sex unions were white (47.3%), followed by brown (39%), Black (12.9%), Asian and indigenous (0.4% each).
Classified by spouses’ religion, IBGE found a majority of Catholics:
• Catholics: 45%
• Evangelicals: 13.6%
• No religion: 21.9%
• Others: 19.5%
For comparison, in the total Brazilian population, Catholics represent 56.7% of people; and Evangelicals, 26.9%.
The Census separates couples by education as well. The largest part (42.6%) had complete high school or incomplete higher education; 31% had complete higher education; 13.4% had no education or incomplete elementary education; and 13% had complete elementary or incomplete high school.
Source: brasil247.com