Living in sin becoming more in

LIVINGSTON, N.J., June 9 (UPI) -- Living together has become so common that a growing number of U.S. residents view cohabitation as an alternative to marriage, an international study indicates.

The National Marriage Project study of the United States, countries in Western Europe, Australia, Canada and New Zealand found that cohabitation globally is more common and considered an option to matrimony, reported USA Today, which received a copy of the report that will be released Wednesday. The study analyzed cohabitation, marriage and divorce data from 13 countries.

Excluding the United States, the study found between 15 percent and 30 percent of couples in the countries surveyed indicated they were living together. That figure was about 10 percent in the United States.

"We're still the most marrying of all these countries, but the data are clearly headed in the one common direction. It's headed in the direction of cohabitation as an alternative," says David Popenoe, chief author and co-director of the National Marriage Project at Rutgers University's Livingston, N.J., campus.

The analysis found the marriage rate is down in all countries except Norway and Sweden, which traditionally have had low marriage rates. In the United States, the marriage rate fell nearly 20 percent from 1995 to 2005.