Question

According to recent census data, What is the predominant family structure in Canada?

Answer 1

There are now 9.8million families in Canada, according to the 2016 Census. This is 15 times as many as in 1871, when the first census was taken after Confederation. Yet as the number of families increased, their sizes decreased.

Many changes have taken place since then, such as the birth control pills, the growing participation of women in both paid work and higher education and the legalization of same sex marriage. Since 1970s, women have been having less than two children on average.

Canadian families, while clearly smaller than at the time of Confederation, are now more diverse and complex than ever before. Today, fewer families are made up of married couples and lone parent families have increased steadily over the last decades.

The family situation of children has also changed significantly, partly because today's parents often seperate before their children have left home. Many children now spend part of their childhood in a lone parent family, possibly with each parent or in a stepfamily.

In 2016,10% of children aged 0-14 lived in a stepfamily and still others lived with only their grandparents, relatives or in a foster family.