Over the course of centuries there have been vast numbers of songs about love and marriage, poems about it, plays and films about love, marriage and weddings.
Indeed, there is a vast industry built up about weddings and huge bridal expos have become big deals in recent years.
But it seems Canadians on average still believe in love but much less so in marriage and weddings.
A new poll in Canada shows half of Canadians are fine with co-habiting but just don’t see the need to get married.
Slightly more than half the respondents in a national survey (53%) say that marriage isn’t necessary.
Fewer than a fifth said it is very important that people who wish to spend their lives together be married.
Graph: Angus Reid Institute
People are also waiting longer to get married, if at all. In 1981, Statistics Canada showed that only 26 percent of adults aged 25-29 reported that they had never been married, while thirty years later 73 per cent the same age group reported in 2011, they had never been married,
Another interesting fact, the majority of respondents who were married said it was important (56%), but some 44 percent of said it wasn’t.
A clear majority of those living together, outside of marriage (known as “common law) said marriage wasn’t important (68%).
Also interesting was the age factor. A majority of young adults 12-24, and seniors 65 and above both responded that marriage in a public/religious ceremony was important, while the majority of all other age groups between ages 25-64 said it wasn’t so important.
Another interesting statistic is that more women said marriage was unnecessary than man. Bringing children into the equation also doesn’t seem to change opinions much as more still say a public marriage is not important. However, while most respond that way, again surprisingly most disagreed with the question, “”Children whose parents are not married will not be as well adjusted as those whose parents are married”
A majority also agreed that marriage shows a greater commitment than a common-law relationship (57%)
As to how attitudes can change, in 1971 most Canadians (78%) felt couplss should not be living together befor marriage, and 22 per cent said they should. In 2018 those figures are almost exactly reversed.
Still, it seems that of the 40 per cent of Canadians who have never been married, about 70 per cent say either they would like to marry someday, or at least are not ruling it out.
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