The lovely and talented Laurie White alerted me to a story last year from the CBC about Canada having more unmarried Canadians than married ones.

An unknown student who wrote a paper for her blog Communications Studies 1A03 wrote this:

There are a number of factors that contribute to the decision of people who choose to remain unmarried. Over the years, the education period has lengthened and more and more women have chosen to get a better education to the highest level possible or that they can afford. Focusing on education and afterwards on their careers or employment opportunities, women have delayed their marriages. Also with the increasing costs of living standards that have been steadily going up since years, the individuals have to keep in mind the costs associated with having and raising children if they want to start a family

I tend to agree, although this comment is not necessarily backed up by Statistics Canada in a neat package.

I did find a fascinating post about people marrying robots, which is worth a read.

Robert McBean who has a blog called Five of Fivewrote this about the analysis from Statistics Canada

These results are based on the 2006 census, which compiled the responses of almost 9 million Canadians. But not me, I was just cleaning house and found my completed but never submitted form. All the census people probably know me by now as that recalcitrant thwarter of statistics gathering. You could make a movie about it with Reese Witherspoon and that guy from Ferris Bueller's day off and it would be quite funny.

Ha! He made me laugh with that one.

Canada is actually having a population crisis and would gladly take whomever the U.S is trying to keep from climbing the fence. Immigration is our first defence in increasing population.

Canada's fertility rate, which has been plummeting for decades, has now reached a low of about 1.6. Demographers say that in order for a population to replace itself, there needs to be a birth rate of 2.1 children per woman.

This global baby bust has been blamed on everything from feminism to economics to individualism and the social revolution of the 1960s. Another reason, sociologists say, is that women are becoming increasingly reluctant to bring children into a world plagued by pollution, terrorism, and climate change.

At a meeting with visiting Canadian bishops in 2006, Pope Benedict said Canada's low birth rate is the result of "the pervasive effects of secularism."

A federally funded study released last week cited work stress as a contributing factor. Twenty-eight per cent of the 33,000 people surveyed said they were delaying having children, having fewer children, or not having children at all because of high levels of work stress.

Faced with the difficulties of balancing work and family, the study found that three times as many Canadians are choosing to make work their top priority, rather than family.

Joan Delaney, Epoch Times Victoria Staff

I have heard others, my friends included that say if they are in a relationship after a divorce they see no point in marrying again. Perhaps this accounts for a few of those numbers. There is also a lot of talk that gay people in committed relationships who are considered married, are not counted in the census.

One comment on the CBC story about Canadians having more unmarried people than married ones comes from Juli S. September 16, 2007.

As a single 33 year old woman, I want to take the blame away from other single women and childless couples and put it on the generation who raised us. We are truly the first generation of women who have a choice about where we go to school, what and how many careers we will have, where we will live and travel, etc. And as a result, being single is one of these choices. We are the product of a society of choice. The generation of women before us didn't have the freedom of choice and as we do now. So in my opinion, the issue isn't really our 'fault' but that of the generation of women who came before us and told us we could do anything we wanted. I guess what they should have said is 'you can do whatever you want as long as you get married and have your babies before you turn 30 and become infertile'.

www.jenandtonic.ca
contributing editor, World blogs :: Canada