Cohabiting Unions in Sub-Saharan Africa: Explaining Botswana’s Exceptionality

Abstract

Using the most recent Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) data, this paper examines the prevalence of current cohabitation in Botswana relative to other sub-Saharan countries. The results reveal that the prevalence of this type of union in Botswana is one of the highest in the sub-continent and the highest in Southern Africa. An exploration of existing explanations for these high levels are shown to be either inadequate or fail to explain all the facts. Factors such as Botswana’s constant population mobility, marriage squeeze and high prevalence of premarital births are postulated as more plausible explanations.