Why can’t I find my soul-mate?

A Review of Trends in Marital Status in Canada (October 2024)

Here is a statistical puzzle.  (Best kind, right?)

As discussed in the article: Where did everyone go?, the Canadian population is getting older and older by the year.  In 1971, the age cohort with the most people was the 10 to 14 year olds1.  Over the years that honour jumped ten times until reaching the 60 to 65 year olds in 2022.  

In 1971, 50% of the population was categorized as ‘Single (Not living common law).’  In 2023, that figure came to 40%.  That is a 20% absolute drop.  Yet the percentage of the population under 20 years old was 39% in 1971 and 21% in 2023, resulting in a 46% absolute drop.  The question/puzzle is: why didn’t the number of single people drop at a similar rate as the drop in young people, the assumption being that young age is the leading reason to be single.  Basically, the movement of the baby boomers through the age cohorts should not have resulted in the number of singles staying so high.  There appears to be a growing number of post-19 year old singles. 

Anecdotally, we hear about young adults not uniting due to factors such as low wages, scarce accommodations, and disconnectedness brought on by modern city life and a gig economy that leads to frequently changing employers, locations and colleagues.  Some would add: increasing number and success of women in the workforce, and widening gender divides (fundamental disagreements).

Another indicator of increasing post-19 year old singleness would be increasing numbers of divorced and separated people.  In 1971, there were 595,000, being 2.7% of the population.  In 2023, there were 2,887,000 (7.4%).  This is a significant increase, so this assumption bears out.

Does the number of widowed people factor much into this increase in singleness?  In 1971 there were 953,000 claiming this status, being 4% of the total population. In 2023 there were 1,957,000 (5%).  This is not a significant change.  In fact, with the average age in Canada growing so fast, you would expect higher numbers of widowed people.  Perhaps improving mortality rates, as discussed in a preceding article, accounted for this.

We can’t really call it an epidemic of loneliness based on numbers alone because that subject is much too complicated.  But we can say these statistics represent just one more factor leading to the lowering of national fertility rates.

Does the Church have a role to play in this area?  How could it not.  If we have growing numbers of disconnected people, church programs could be developed to address this issue.  Any program that brings single people together would be a blessing.  Instructions on how to narrow gender divides, better manage your time, and on making marriage more affordable would go a long way.

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1. Statistics Canada, Population estimates on July 1, by age and gender, February 21, 2024,  https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1710000501