"Marriages Ending in Divorce" Statistics in Canada

by
Dr. Reena Sommer

A recent study by Statistics Canada reported that the "marriages ending in divorce" statistics have finally leveled off in Canada. In other words, in the past few years the rate of divorce has remained pretty stable. This finding seems to suggest that the large jump in the number of divorces that were sparked by the changes in the Canadian divorce laws in the 1970's has finally peaked.

However according to the 2005 Stats Can survey on divorce, repeat divorces - those involving people who had been divorced at least once before, are the ones accounting for an increasing proportion of divorces in Canada. This means that while the overall divorce rate has stabilized there is nevertheless, an increase in repeat divorces. In fact, this survey found that the proportion of repeat divorces for husbands and wives tripled in 2003 compared to 1973.

A Rise in Repeat Divorces

This new finding implies that people who have been divorced once may be more likely to divorce again. The question of course is why? Is it that those who are divorcing are making poorer choices? Or are those who are divorcing, less willing to put up with unhappy relationships?

The study also revealed that the peak divorce rate in 2003 occurred after three years of marriage, when 26.2 out of 1,000 marriages ended in divorce. Thereafter, the risk of divorce decreased slowly for each additional year of marriage.

Custody Battles Still Wage On

Finally, parents with children will be interested to know that the custody of dependents (the majority of whom are children aged 18 and under), was granted through divorce court proceedings in 27% of 2003 divorces. This findings suggests almost three quarters of divorcing parents are able actually able to negotiate how they will parent post divorce and avoid a nasty custody trial. This finding lends support to the notion that in spite of the acrimony and stress of divorce, most parents can get it together for their children.

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