The table demonstrates the alterations in household types in Canada at 10-year intervals from 1984 to 2014 and again in 2020.
There has been a steady increase in households without children during this period. One-person households doubled from 6% in 1984 to 12% in 2020, whilst the percentage of couples with no children rose from 19% in 1984 to 23% in 2004 and to 25% in 2014. However, this figure levelled out in 2020. Even bigger changes have occurred when it comes to couples with dependent children. This category shrank from 52% in 1984 to 36% in 2020. In contrast, the percentage of lone parents trebled over the same period, rising from 4% in 1984 to 12% in 2020. The percentage of families with non-dependent children has remained more stable: 10% in 1984, rising only 1% over the next 20 years before falling to 9% in 2014.
In conclusion, the table shows definite patterns of change within the Canadian family over the past 40 years, in particular the decline in the traditional. model of one couple with dependent children.
