Family formation and dissolution is a complex and (due to the mate matching
process) a computationally time consuming modelling exercise. The focus of this
paper is to provide an overview of the issues involved and to suggest ways of
capturing the strong dynamics and interactions of the family formation process. This
paper reviews international approaches to modelling family formation and
dissolution, outlines the proposed order of the relevant processes in APPSIM,
discusses the proposed ‘marriage market’, and examines how family formation can
be modelled in APPSIM using linked microsimulation and macrosimulation models.