Felix Lam

Question: Why has the 30-year total divorce rate in Canada been generally trending downwards in a stable manner? Link and brief summary: The article titled " 'For richer and not poorer…' " written by Michael Swan, it discusses how the divorce rate in Canada has decreased over the past 30 years. An interesting finding is that the lower divorce rates are more common among Canadians who have higher education and higher income. A 2019 survey report by Nanos for The Globe and Mail showed that nearly 80% of Canadians consider themselves to be middle class. In addition, Canada has a noticeably lower and more stable divorce rate compared to the United States. Canada ranked 9th in the World Happiness Report in 2019, while the United States ranked 19th , suggesting that the stable divorce rates may also reflect on the happiness index.   The decline in Canada's divorce rate is also influenced by the Catholic religious culture. Swan pointed out the inseparable relationship b...

  Data Update #2 1. The Lead:  The median duration of marriage in Canada dropped significantly between 1970 and 1991, falling from 13.3 years to 10.8 years, couples were divorcing more quickly. 2. The Excel Workbook 3. Explanation:  This workbook contains two worksheets, raw data and slices. This spreadsheet shows that the median duration of marriages has dropped sharply from 13.3 years in 1970 to 10.8 years in 1991. It tracks the length of marriages among Canadians over a span of twenty years, visualizing the downward trend over time. This reflects the changing social values towards marriage and raises questions for research to understand the reasons behind the decreasing duration of marriages. 4.  The Dataset Link