StatsCan: More people in Canada live alone than ever before

Enjoying Netflix by your lonesome again? Don’t feel lonely, because you’re not alone.

According to Statistics Canada, more people in Canada are living solo than ever before. A 2016 census report on Families, households and marital status revealed “one-person households accounted for 28.2% of all households last year – the highest share since Confederation in 1867.”

That’s a pretty astonishing figure. Furthermore, 2016 was the first time that one-person households became the most common type of household.

Source: Statistics Canada

So, what’s behind all this single livin’? Plenty, apparently.

According to the report, “income redistribution, pensions and the increased presence of women in the workforce have led to more people being economically independent today than in the past.” This is especially true among the older demographic.

Population aging and higher life expectancy also play a role, as seniors generally live alone as a greater share of the population compared to other groups.

There’s also a not-so-nice factor: higher separation and divorce rates.

See also

• This is how much Canadian couples are making in major cities across Canada
• Canadians just turned in the best census response rate in 350 years
• Millennials think they have it worse than any other generation: poll

While the percentage of people in Canada living alone may seem high, many other industrialized countries boast even higher rates of singleness. Almost 42% of Germany’s population, for example, lives alone. France, Japan, Norway and Sweden also posted numbers above 33%.

Some more fun facts:

– One-person households most common in Quebec (33%)
– Nunavut has the lowest share of one-person households (18.9%)
– 27.5% of people in the United States live alone
– More women than men live alone, with women accounting for 53.7% of one-person households
– The share of couples living with at least one child fell from 56.7% in 2001 to 51.1% in 2016 (the lowest level on record).