The Public Consequences of Falling Marriage Rates
Commentary
Schools, travel plans, and work schedules aren’t the only things that need to return to normal after almost three years of COVID disruptions. Marriage needs to get back on track too.
Canadian marriages hit a historic low in 2020, with 33 percent fewer marriages registered compared to the previous year. You could call it the great pandemic pause on family formation. While it’s not surprising that these numbers fell during lockdowns and other restrictions, we at Cardus are asking what comes next.
Maybe one change will be that Statistics Canada will resume regularly publishing national marriage rates. The latest numbers are the first the agency has published in about a decade. They also follow the resumption of divorce rate data earlier this year. Hopefully, this means the permanent return of this important data….