Highlights from the 2016 census

The Canadian household averaged just 2.4 people in 2016, compared with 5.6 people in 1871

Thestar.com
Aug. 2, 2017
By The Canadian Press

Highlights from Wednesday's latest batch of data from the 2016 census, this one focused on families, households, marital status and language:

• The Canadian household averaged just 2.4 people in 2016, compared with 5.6 people in 1871.
• More than one in three Canadians aged 20-34 - 34.7 per cent - were living with at least one parent in 2016, compared with 30.6 per cent in 2001. During that same period, the percentage of people in that age group living with a family of their own fell from 49.1 per cent to 41.9 per cent.
• The living-at-home phenomenon is most pronounced in Ontario, with 42.1 per cent of young adults living with a parent, a 20.3 per cent increase over 2001. In Toronto and Oshawa, Ont., the ratio was more than 47 per cent.
• Just over 28 per cent of all households comprised a single person in 2016 - the highest share of one-person households since 1867, making it the most common living arrangement in Canada for the first time ever. 53.7 per cent of them were women.
• Three in 10 children in Canada were living in non-traditional family arrangements, such as in a lone-parent family, a stepfamily, with grandparents or other relatives, or as foster children. Statistics Canada counted 28,030 foster children aged 14 and under in Canada in 2016.
• Couples with children made up 26.5 per cent of all households, down from 31.5 per cent in 2001.
• More than 1 million children, or 19.2 per cent, were living in a single-parent family in 2016, up from 17.8 per cent in 2001. Of those, 81.3 per cent lived with their mother. During that same period, however, the number living with their father grew 34.5 per cent.
• Couples with children made up 26.5 per cent of all households, down from 31.5 per cent in 2001.
• More than 1 million children, or 19.2 per cent, were living in a single-parent family in 2016, up from 17.8 per cent in 2001. Of those, 81.3 per cent lived with their mother. During that same period, however, the number living with their father grew 34.5 per cent.