(Montreal) Quebecers’ enthusiasm for common-law unions is undeniable and the high proportion of this type of union in Quebec pushes Canada to the top of the G7 countries in terms of the percentage of common-law spouses.
Posted at 12:54 p.m.
Updated at 1:09 p.m.
New data from the 2021 census released on Wednesday shows that Quebec has a common-law union rate of 43% among couples who live there, a proportion virtually unchanged since 2001. The Canadian rate is 23%, compared to 77 % of married couples. However, the common-law union rate drops to 17% if Quebec is excluded.
Despite everything, it is not Quebec that has the highest proportion of couples living common-law, but rather Nunavut at 52%. It is the demographic weight of Quebec that has such an influence on the Canadian proportion.
“Nationally, marriage remains the most common among unions, with more than three-quarters of couples married in 2021 and nearly a quarter living common-law. There is, however, an exception: Nunavut, which sees for the first time a majority of couples living in a common-law union,” detailed analyst Laurent Martel of Statistics Canada, when unveiling these figures on Wednesday morning.
447% increase
According to Statistics Canada, common-law unions have grown tremendously over the past 40 years. The number of common-law couples jumped 447% between 1981 and 2021 in Canada, while the increase in the number of married couples was only 26% during the same period. The number of married couples has even decreased by 17% in Quebec and by 2% in New Brunswick.
Globally, the 23% proportion of common-law couples places Canada first among G7 countries, but still behind Sweden (33%), Norway (31%) and Finland (28 %), “a trend that reflects societal and legislative differences surrounding cohabitation and procreation outside of marriage,” according to the Statistics Canada report.
Quebec alone, with its proportion of 43%, thus ranks far ahead of Sweden, a country where the proportion of common-law unions is the highest in the world. It should be noted that this form of cohabitation has even become “the norm” among 20 to 24 year olds in Quebec, reaching 79% in this age stratum. This proportion decreases as one advances in the age groups, but Statistics Canada nevertheless observes that its prevalence increases among older people.
Even older couples
For example, the federal agency writes that “from 2016 to 2021, the growth in the number of common-law couples was also relatively strong among people aged 55 to 69, who accounted for 16% of people in couples in this age group. in 2021, up from 13% in 2016. In 2021, people in this age group made up the bulk of baby boomers, a group more likely to have formed multiple unions in the past. course of their life compared to previous generations. Following divorce, older adults are increasingly choosing common-law unions when forming new unions. »
Also noteworthy: among couples with children, those living common-law were more than four times more likely to be blended families (31%) than married couples with children (7%), suggesting parents may prefer to live common-law when starting a new union.
We also note that, all things considered, more couples live common-law in Canadian rural regions than in urban regions, a phenomenon also observed in small urban centers compared to large urban centres. One of the explanations put forward is the much greater presence in large cities of immigrants, for whom this form of cohabitation is often culturally less accepted.
On the Quebec side, however, it is reported that common-law unions are the norm in several communities in the suburbs of Quebec and Montreal. For example, more than two-thirds (68%) of couples in Sainte-Brigitte-de-Laval lived common-law, as did more than six out of ten couples in Saint-Apollinaire (64%), Stoneham-et-Tewkesbury ( 63%), in Saint-Lin-Laurentides (63%) and in Sainte-Catherine-de-la-Jacques-Cartier (61%). “These suburban towns have seen strong population growth in recent years, often including new residential developments centered on young families,” the federal minutes wrote.
First data on gender diversity
“The 2021 census made it possible to measure couples according to gender diversity for the very first time,” Mr. Martel also explained. We learn that in 2021, among the 8.6 million couples in Canada, the overwhelming majority, or 98.5% of them, were made up of a cisgender man and woman.
This means that same-gender couples and couples with at least one transgender or non-binary person represented 1.5% of all couples in the country (127,640 couples in total).
Breaking down this data more precisely, we see that same-sex couples, i.e. couples made up of two women or two men who are both cisgender, represented 1.1% of the total. pairs (95,435 pairs). Couples with at least one transgender or non-binary person, for their part, represented approximately one couple in 250 (0.4% or 32,205 couples).
Consistent with regional differences observed among transgender or non-binary populations in Canada, transgender or non-binary couples were generally more common in large urban centers across Canada, most notably in Victoria (0.8%), Halifax (0.7 %) and Fredericton (0.7%).
Neither alone nor together
Another couple phenomenon that is gaining momentum is that of couples, married or not, who live apart: almost three out of ten young adults (29%) form a couple “each living at home”.
This phenomenon is more common among couples between the ages of 20 and 34. This time, Statistics Canada refers to the Canadian Social Survey, which tells us that 29% of couples aged 20 to 34 were living apart in 2021, either for reasons related to “well-being, unpaid work or time spent with family “. This is a strong increase of more than ten percentage points compared to the 2011 data which reported 18% of people aged 20 to 34 forming this type of union.
A century-old constant
While the nature of couple relationships has changed a lot over the years, there is still one constant that persists over time in Canada, and that is being in a couple.
New data from the 2021 census released by Statistics Canada on Wednesday shows that the proportion of Canadian adults aged 15 and over who were living in a couple in 2021 was 57%, a percentage almost identical to that of 100 years ago, which was 58% in 1921.
However, this state of affairs seems to be changing. The federal agency points out that, compared to previous generations, today’s young adults are less likely to live as a couple, because other lifestyles, such as living alone, living with roommates or living with his parents, have become more widespread. It is indeed older couples who have maintained the current percentage, as only 39% of people aged 25 to 29 were in a couple in 2021, compared to 68% in 1981, a drop of almost 30 percentage points. in 40 years.