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PAGE 18
PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, JUNE 10, 1986
figures take on a different complexion when examined by age
bracket.
For while cohabitation has increased only moderately
among the over-35s, it has boomed among the younger age groups:
in 1968, for example, there were 67,000 unmarried couples under
1"5'; by 19-gs-that figure had soared!£ 589,000••••
People living in northern France are the most attached to the
idea of marriage. Paris, on the other hand, breaks all records
for cohabitation: if one examines the total number of males in
the capital living with women either in or out of wedlock, it
emerges that lovers are more numerous than husbands••••
It should also be remembered that there are significant tax
benefits to be gained from cohabitation as opposed to marriage,
particularly in certain pay brackets when both man and woman
pull in the same salary.
They can make out separate tax
declarations and divide the children up between them. They are
then entitled to tax allowances and deductions twice over.
Unmarried couples still do not enjoy any legal existence••••
But town halls will issue a "certificate of cohabitation" to
anyone who requests one.
The document�enables unmarried
couples to enjoy the same benefits as married couples when
dealing with welfare bodies or obtaining fare reductions on
public transport.
Cohabitants are coming increasingly to resemble spouses••.• But
then what is a couple anyway? With the increase in the numEer
or-desultory-;
temporary
and
other
laid-back
forms
of
relationship, perhaps someone should come up with a new
definition of the word.
--Gene Hogberg, News Bureau