Family structures becoming more diverse

Over the past 50 years, family structures have become increasingly diverse. Families have been influenced by a number of socioeconomic changes, including legalization of the birth control pill, the introduction of no-fault divorce and the increased participation of women in the labour market.
Although their proportion has decreased over time, married couples remained the predominant family structure in Canada in 2011, accounting for about two-thirds of census families (67.0%). Fifty years earlier, married couple families comprised slightly more than 9 in 10 census families (91.6%).
The decrease in the proportion of married couples is largely attributable to the increase in the number of common-law couples, whose proportion tripled from 5.6% in 1981 (the first year for which census data are available on common-law couples) to 16.7% in 2011.
The proportion of lone-parent families has also increased in recent decades from 8.4% in 1961 to 16.3% in 2011. This increase was slower than for common-law couples, whose number exceeded that of lone-parent families for the first time in 2011.

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