Total first marriage rates and age-specific first marriage rates per 1,000 males, all marriages, by place of occurrence, 2000 to 2004.

There were about 14.81 million married people living in Canada in 2022. This is an increase from the 12.07 million married people in Canada in 2000.

Marriage requirements in Canada

Marriage in Canada is administered by the Parliament of Canada. Both religious and nonreligious ceremonies are allowed, but all marriages must be recognized by the government. Same-sex marriage has been legal in Canada since 2005. The minimum age of the spouses for marriage is 16, but each province is able to set their own minimum age, which could result in the minimum age being higher than 16 years old. As a result, most provinces have increased the minimum age threshold to be 18 or 19 years old, and there are very few married people between the ages of 15 and 19 years old.

Who gets married?

Ontario was the province with the most married couples living there. For both genders, the number of marriages has increased in Canada since 2000, although more men were married than women. In January 2018, a little over half of Canadians thought that legal marriage was either not that important or not at all important for couples planning to be together long-term.

Number of divorces and various divorce indicators (crude divorce rate, divorce rate for married persons, age-standardized divorce rate, total divorce rate, mean and median duration of marriage, median duration of divorce proceedings, percentage of joint divorce applications), by place of occurrence, 1970 to most recent year.

Number of persons who divorced in a given year and age-specific divorce rates per 1,000 legally married persons, by sex or gender and place of occurrence, 1970 to most recent year.

In 2022, there were about 1.57 million married people between the ages of 55 and 59 years old living in Canada. In that same year, there were about 2,763 married people between the ages of 15 and 19 years old living in Canada.

This table contains 13 series, with data for years 2000 - 2004 (not all combinations necessarily have data for all years). This table contains data described by the following dimensions (Not all combinations are available): Geography, place of occurrence (1 item: Canada, place of occurrence); Characteristics (13 items: Age-specific marriage rate, males under 20 years; Age-specific marriage rate, males 20 to 24 years; Age-specific marriage rate, males 25 to 29 years; Age-specific marriage rate, males 30 to 34 years; ...).

In 2022, there were more married men in Canada than there were women. In that year, there were about 7.51 million married men and about 7.3 million married women in Canada.

Number of marriages and various nuptiality indicators (crude marriage rate, number of marriages of different-gender or same-gender couples [when available], total first-marriage rate and probability of ever marrying according to the first-marriage table), by place of occurrence, 1991 to most recent year.

In 2022, there were more than six million married people living in Ontario; the most out of any province. Nunavut had the fewest married people living there, totaling about 7,960 individuals.

Number of persons who married in a given year and age-specific marriage rate per 1,000 unmarried persons, by legal marital status, gender (when available) and place of occurrence, 1991 to most recent year.

Annual population estimates by marital status or legal marital status, age and sex, Canada, provinces and territories.

[ARCHIVED] Community Counts data is retained for archival purposes only, such as research, reference and record-keeping. This data has not been maintained or updated. Users looking for the latest information should refer to Statistics Canada’s Census Program (https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/index-eng.cfm?MM=1) for the latest data, including detailed results about Nova Scotia. This table reports marriages and marriage rates. Geography available: counties

Number of persons who married in a given year and age-specific marriage rate per 1,000 unmarried persons, by legal marital status, gender (when available) and place of occurrence, 1991 to most recent year.

Mean age and median age at divorce and at marriage, for persons who divorced in a given year, by sex or gender and place of occurrence, 1970 to most recent year.

Number of marriages and various nuptiality indicators (crude marriage rate, number of marriages of different-gender or same-gender couples [when available], total first-marriage rate and probability of ever marrying according to the first-marriage table), by place of occurrence, 1991 to most recent year.

Total first marriage rates and age-specific first marriage rates per 1,000 females, all marriages, by place of occurrence, 2000 to 2004.

In 2022, there were more single males living in Canada than single women. In that year, there were 9.67 million single men, and 8.6 single women in Canada. In comparison, there were far more widowed women than men, with 1.59 million widowed women and 472,170 widowed men in Canada.

In 2022, there were about 2.78 million people who had obtained a legal divorce and not remarried in Canada. This figure has been steadily increasing since 2000, when there were about 1.88 million divorcees in Canada.

Number and percentage of marriages, by type of marriage (opposite-sex, same-sex), month of marriage, and place of occurrence, 2000 to 2004.

Divorces, by age of husband at marriage and at divorce, Canada