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Gay couples 'increasing'
15/11/2005 08:09 - (SA)
The Hague - The socially liberal Netherlands was home to some 53 000 same-sex couples as of January 1 2005, compared with 39 000 10 years earlier, a study for Statistics Netherlands showed on Monday.
Nearly a quarter were either married or had a formal civil partnership, the survey found.
There were more male duos than female pairs, with 29 000 and 24 000 recorded respectively.
But all-female couples were more likely to have children, with 18% having one or more child, while only one in 100 male couples had adopted.
Same-sex couples tended to live mainly in larger cities such as Amsterdam (13%), The Hague and Rotterdam (around 5.5%) and Utrecht (about 3%), the statistics office found.
In April 2001 the Netherlands, which has a reputation for being at the forefront of social change, became the first country in the world to allow same-sex couples to wed and to adopt Dutch children.
- AFP
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South Africa
