Neither single nor living together: Living-Apart-Together in the second half of life

Abstract

This DZA Aktuell describes the prevalence of the Living Apart Together lifestyle in the second half of life, the extent to which people in LAT partnerships would like to share a household and how likely they think it is that they will move in together. Key messages: In 2023, just over one in twenty people in the second half of their lives were living in a LAT (Living-Apart-Together) partnership. People in middle adulthood are most likely to live in a LAT partnership, and the older the person, the lower the proportion of LAT partnerships in their age group. The proportion of people in LAT partnerships does not differ according to income or gender. People with a high level of education are more likely to live in a LAT partnership than people with a medium level of education. Half of the people in LAT partnerships consider moving in together to be easy or quite possible. Overall, just over half of people living in LAT partnerships would like to share a household with their partner, whereas just under half do not express such a wish. The majority of those who consider moving in together to be easily possible would also like to share a household.