NEW YORK - Nearly half of young women say the first time they lived with a guy, they weren't married.

That's the finding of a government survey released Thursday.

The results are a marked changed from 1995 when only 34 percent said they moved in together. Now it is 48 percent. Back then, 39 percent said they married first, compared to 23 now.

Experts say the numbers show living together is increasing used as a testing ground for marriage. About 40 percent of the women who lived with a guy went on to marry him within 3 years.

The survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention questioned more than 12,000 women younger than 45 from 2006 to 2010.

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Online:

CDC report: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/