The marital separation in the Census and in the Demography and Health Surveys in Colombia, 1951-2015

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to measure the marital separation in Colombia in the period between 1951-2015, and to offer a corrected estimate of the presence of said phenomenon, at the municipal level, based on the 2005 Census. Direct and indirect techniques are applied to the calculation of the percentage of women aged 30 to 34 who were separated or divorced and also for those who had ever experienced such an event, regardless of their current marital status. The sources used were the Population Censuses from 1951 to 2005 and the National Demographic and Health Surveys for the period 1986-2015. The results indicate that, contrary to the under-registration of the Census, the separation has been increasing since 1986 to reach a level of 34% in 2015. However, there are important territorial variations. Being the Caribbean, Pacific and Amazonia Orinoquia regions the places with the highest levels.