If you are lone, you are not alone in Canada

The 2016 Census hinted only few households are composed of mothers, fathers and kids. However, more families are composed of lone family member.

Throughout all these years, the census has been used as a barometer to notice the changes in Canadian households and families.

In 1981, it measured common law union, same-sex couples in 2001 and in 2011 foster children and step families.

Census data help governments respond to changes in the lives of Canadians, by putting in place policies such as the Universal Child Care Benefit and Old Age Security.

According to the Census report, in 2016, there were 14.1 million private households in Canada. Out of those, 9.5 million were composed of one census family.

Census families are defined as married or common-law couples, with or without children, and lone-parent families.

Therefore one person households registered a 28.2% of all households, which is the highest figure since Confederation in 1867.

One person households turned out to be the most common type of household in 2016. It has surpassed the previous household of couples with one child or none which registered a figure of 26.5% in 2016; previously it was 31.5%.

Apart from these, a small 4.1% of the total people were having a household of two or three people in 2016. This percentage of households were having roommates or siblings.

The Census also brought the fact that higher rate of divorce and separations led to the growth of percentage of lonely households.

One person households were seen to be mostly in Quebec and Yukon with the former registering the highest percentage of 33.3% in 2016.

(Reporting by Souvik Ghosh)