Canadian Divorce Rates: Statistics Canada Will No Longer Collect Data On Splits, Unions

Statistics Canada will no longer collect and crunch numbers on the country's annual marriage and divorce rates, a sign both of cost cuts at the agency and the changing nature of relationships, as definitions get fuzzier and harder to track.

The national statistical agency published its last national figures on marriage and divorce rates last week. It has been collecting divorce data since 1972 and marriage data since 1921. It pegs the cost of reinstating the collection at $250,000.

The numbers shed light on the likelihood of divorce, the average age of marriage and reasons for marital breakdowns by province and nationally, and how that changes over time. Replicating this information will be tricky -- the provinces track marriages, but no national body collects marriage data. The Justice Department has information on divorces, but doesn't disseminate it.

The absence of data will make it difficult to assess how the recession affected divorce rates because it ends at 2008. It will be harder to compare Canadian marriage or divorce rates with, for example, the United States. And policy makers say they will have a tougher time assessing where and how marital breakdown is affecting child poverty, housing, education and health care, and which policies are most effective at keeping families together.

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