By definition, those who were married and living with their spouse could not be currently cohabiting, but all other legal marital status groups are represented among cohabiters. In 2000:

• among all respondents aged 16 to 59, 11% of men and 12% of women were cohabiting
• comparison by age showed that those most likely to be cohabiting were men in the two age groups from 25 to 34 and women in their twenties; (24% and 20% respectively for men and 24% and 27% respectively for women compared with no more than 14% of any other age/sex group)
• among non-married respondents aged 16 to 59, including separated respondents, 22% of men and 25% of women were cohabiting.

Data from 1998 and 2000 were combined to provide a sufficiently large sample to analyse cohabitation by age and legal marital status. Among men aged 16 to 59, those who were divorced were by far the most likely to be cohabiting, 36% compared with 20% of single or separated men. Among women in this age group there was little difference between the proportions of divorced and single women who were cohabiting, 30% and 27% respectively.