Highlights of the 2006 census data

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Highlights of the 2006 census data

Canadian Press Published Wednesday, September 12, 2007 9:15AM EDT Last Updated Friday, May 18, 2012 6:51PM EDT

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OTTAWA - Highlights of the latest , which looks at Canadian families:

A record one in four Canadian families with children is headed by a lone parent as the nuclear family spirals into a dramatic decline. The number of single-parent familes has been climbing steadily since the height of the baby boom in the 1960s to the point now where there are almost 1.5 million.
For the first time in the nation's history, married people are in the minority. Statistics Canada said the 2006 census showed that 51.5 per cent of the adult population was not married -- which could mean they were never married, were living in a common-law relationship, or were divorced, separated or widowed.
The number of common-law couples has grown substantially since the 2001 census. Couples living together outside of the legal confines of marriage account for 15.5 per cent of all families in Canada. Twenty years ago, that figure was only 7.2 per cent.
Nowhere is marriage eschewed more than in Quebec, where common-law relationships make up 35 per cent of the province's couples.
The 2006 census was the first to count same-sex married couples. The number is relatively small -- 7,465 -- given that gay marriage wasn't legalized across Canada until 2005.
Kids continue to be reluctant to leave the family nest -- 43.5 per cent of adult children aged 20 to 29 are still living at home. Statistics Canada suggested a variety of reasons for this trend that's been growing over the last two decades: kids spend more years at school, poor job opportunities or financial troubles.
The trend of women having children later in life is increasing. In 2006, 9.4 per cent of children under the age of five had a mother in her 40s. Five years ago, the proportion was 7.8 per cent.
Statistics Canada reported that for the first time, the 2006 census showed there were more families comprised of couples without children (42.7 per cent) than with children (41.4 per cent). It should be noted, however, the census definition of a "couple with children'' does not include couples with children age 25 and over.