At least according to the “Generations and Gender Survey” carried out by the University of Vienna in cooperation with the Institute for Demography of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) and the University of Salzburg. Rather, Austrians tend to have relationship partners with similar ages and levels of education. It also shows that how and when couples form is changing increasingly.
According to the surveys, the age difference in 69 percent of Austrian relationships is less than five years, and in 29 percent it is no greater than one year. In 49 percent of cases, the partners’ level of education was the same, as measured by the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED). These results came from a quantitative survey for which 8,000 Austrians between the ages of 18 and 59 were surveyed online from October 2022 to March 2023.
Trends across all levels of society
However, these trends do not run evenly across all social classes, explained Bernhard Riederer, ÖAW demographer and member of the Austrian consortium of the “Generations and Gender Program” (GGP): “It is very clear that the age differences are higher with less education. ” As a rule, the male partner is older, although the number of relationships in which the woman is older is now increasing.
The trend in education levels has now reversed. “We know that women are ahead when it comes to university degrees.” In the older generations, predominantly men enjoyed higher education. However, this does not mean equality in career position – only a quarter of the couples would be similar in this regard. “You can see the occupational segregation in the labor market and that fewer women are in management positions,” said the OeAW researcher.
In addition, according to the study, people with higher education are more likely to have partners with a migration background. Riederer sees one explanation for this in the fact that couples often form during such training courses, which are already ethnically heterogeneous. In the case of homosexual couples, which in other statistics would hardly differ from heterosexual ones, in 45 percent of cases one partner does not come from Austria.
Concepts of life outside of tradition
Meanwhile, finding a partner is changing: on the one hand, through online dating, with which 15 percent of highly educated and 23 percent of less educated young people now find their first partners. On the other hand, life concepts outside of traditional family structures and two-generation households are increasing. What is particularly noticeable is that “single-person households have become widespread among all age groups”. According to Riederer, solid relationships are also becoming more and more delayed. “It takes longer to find a partner, it takes longer to move in together, and the first births are postponed.”
Selected results of the new GGP studies were published in the brochure “Families in Austria. Partnerships, the desire to have children and the economic situation in challenging times”. International comparisons with the Austrian data are not yet possible; the surveys are still ongoing in most GGP countries.
