Mise en couple et naissances dans les unions à La Réunion

Abstract

Between the generations born 1930 to 1974 in Reunion Island, the calendar and intensity of the formation of couples – pairing – has remained fairly stable. This result, obtained from the Reunion Island family survey in 1997, combines with that of the observed stability of the young age of mothers on the birth of their first child. These two specific characteristics in the island probably have common economic and social causes. The principal change from older to younger generations is the substitution of lasting partnerships for marriage. Unions formed in most recent years are the most fragile but the probability of forming a new couple following separation is increasing. Biographies are becoming more complex, similar to the situation in mainland France. In recent generations, the couple remains the context in which most children are born. Fewer that one in six births take place outside a union. The proportion is highest for first children for whom the mother was aged under 20 at the birth. An increase in duration between the union and the first child is observed in the 1989-1991 generations, notably for women in first unions with no child at the time of the union.

Keywords

• births
• longitudinal analysis
• marriage behaviour
• non-marriage
• Reunion family survey 1997
• Reunion Island