Canadian Divorce Statistics (2005)

Here’s a sampling of statistics on marriage and divorce in Canada:

• There were 71,269 divorces in Canada in 2005, or a rate of 220.7 per 100,000 population.
• About 38% of marriages end in divorce before the 30th anniversary. This figure differs across the country, ranging from 48% in Quebec to 22% in Newfoundland.
• The risk of divorce is much higher for a first marriage than for a remarriage; 16% of divorces involve men who have been divorced previously, and 15% involve previously divorced women. 20% of Canadian divorces are repeat divorces for at least one spouse. Excluding Quebec, where cohabitation has become the preference, about 70% of divorced men and 58% of divorced women remarry.
• The average length of marriages that end in divorce is 14.5 years, an increase of 1.7 from ten years ago.
• The average age at which men divorce is 44 years old, and the average age for women is 41.4. The average age at which men marry is 29.5, and that for women is 26.9.
• Almost 30% of children born in 1984 experienced their parents’ divorce (or ended cohabitation) by the age of 15, according to the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth.
• About 10% of child-custody orders are joint physical custody, in which the child spends at least 40% of his or her time with each parent. Joint legal custody comprises about 46.5% of all child-custody orders, while only 10% of children live with their fathers.
• Around 43% of women have a decrease in household income within two years of a separation or divorce; the figure is only 15% for men. The same study finds that 29% of men have an increase in income, as compared to nine percent of women.
• In a recent survey, 90% of teenagers said they expected not only to get married but to stay with their spouses permanently.

(Source: Statistics Canada, unless otherwise noted)