An increasing number of couples where the man is younger than the woman

In 2012, among cohabiting couples consisting of a man and a woman, both spouses were within one year of each other in three out of ten cases. For six out of ten couples, the man was older than the woman. In only one in ten couples, the man was younger. The latter configuration is becoming more common: 10% of couples formed in the 1960s and 16% of those who got together in the 2000s.

The more qualified the men were, the more often they had a partner their own age and the less common it was for them to have a spouse who was younger than them. Equally, the more educated the woman was, the more common it was for them to have a partner of their own age and the less common it was for them to have an older spouse. The differences by social category in turn reflected those observed by qualification. Where the man in the couple was a manager, he was the elder in one in two couples; where he was a worker, he was the elder in six couples out of ten.

Finally, the man was more often the elder among couples with at least one immigrant spouse. This was the case in 71% of couples where both spouses were immigrants.