[More separations than divorces].

"In the Netherlands, the yearly numbers of divorces have been rather stable since the mid eighties. Yet the numbers of separations of couples are on the increase. This is caused by two factors. First of all, more and more women cohabit at some point in their lives....Secondly, cohabiting couples have a much higher likelihood of disruption than married couples. About one in seven women born in 1950-1954 was ever divorced before age 38. If disruption of cohabitation is added to this figure, one in five women born in the early fifties has ever separated. For more recent birth cohorts, difference between divorce and disruption of both marriage and cohabitation is much larger. Of women born in the early sixties, only 4 per cent were ever divorced before age 28, whereas 17 percent of these women were ever separated." (SUMMARY IN ENG) excerpt