Register-based estimates of parents' coresidence in Sweden, 1969-2007

Abstract

In this paper, the authors evaluate the quality of new register-based estimates of parents' union status at birth and of separation during the childrearing years. Parents of a common child are identified through the Multi-Generation Register that links each child to each parent and therefore each parent to each other. The Total Population Register identifies the property at which each parent is registered at the end of each year. Property-based estimates of parents' coresidence compare very well to census reports. Register-based estimates are virtually identical with those produced from the 1992 Swedish Fertility and Family Survey; differences between register estimates and those produced from the 1991 and 2000 Level of Living Survey can be explained by differences in measurement of marriage and cohabitation. Estimates of parents' cohabitation based on annual, property-level registration are of sufficient quality for their use in substantive analyses of union status at birth and parents' separation in Sweden.