Marriages and consensual unions in the context of the Second Demographic Transition in Cuba

Marisol Armas, Centro de Estudios Demográficos (CEDEM)
Paula Miranda-Ribeiro, CEDEPLAR, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
Laura R. Wong, Centro de Desenvolvimento e Planejamento Regional (CEDEPLAR)

The paper aims at identifying those aspects that are important for family formation from a demographic standpoint in Cuba, to be discussed within the Second Demographic Transition (SDT) framework. We focus on some manifestations such as delay of marriage, smaller incidence of first and second marriages, increase in cohabitation, both as a pre-marital test and an alternative after the first marriage, among others. Data are both quantitative (census data and sample surveys) and qualitative (in-depth interviews with males and females, conducted in Habana in 2007).