Two’s company for a growing number of Canadian couples, with the latest census data showing an ever-widening gap between households with children and households without them. The latter outnumbered the former for the first time in 2006, and the latest numbers reveal that trend has only magnified in the years since.

Though our aging population explains part of the phenomenon, with many baby boomers’ kids having reached adulthood and left home, analysts say the big picture is more diverse. Overall, Canadian families are getting smaller, fertility rates are declining, and many couples are either delaying starting families or snubbing the reproductive imperative altogether.

“The fact is, marriages and common-law (partnerships) are very unstable and very likely to separate,” says Evelyne Lapierre-Adamcyk, professor emeritus of demography at the University of Montreal. “That has an influence on the decision to have children or not.”

In 2001, 30.5 per cent of households comprised couples with children aged 24 and under, compared to 28 per cent for those without children. In 2006, couples with children dropped to 28.5 per cent, while those without children surpassed them at 29 per cent.

The 2011 census reveals that the divide continues to widen, with households comprised of couples with kids falling to 26.5 per cent, versus 29.5 per cent for those without children.

Among the latter cohort are Heather and Wayne Maisonneuve, a married couple from Edmonton. Although Heather, 48, admits some regret in having nobody to carry on their legacy when they die, Wayne says that the benefits of not having children outweigh any drawbacks.

“A long time ago, people were hung up on it. But from a societal standpoint, it doesn’t seem to be an issue anymore,” says Wayne, 53. “We have more time, more money. What more could you ask for?”

Between 2006 and 2011, Census households consisting of couples without children climbed by 9.3 per cent; couple households with children, meanwhile, declined during that same period by 0.5 per cent.

Statistics Canada reports that the Atlantic provinces, characterized by an older population, saw the largest decreases in couples with children, while younger provinces such as Alberta and Saskatchewan proved somewhat immune.

Overall, at the sub-provincial level, about four out of every five census divisions saw a marked decline in the number of couple households with kids. Notably, there are now more one-person households in Canada than couple households with kids: 3,673,305 versus 3,524,915.

Monica Zeniuk, a member of the Edmonton social club Babes without Babes, says she’s found people very accepting of the child-free choice she and her husband made – and often, she senses, even a little envious of it.

“The benefits of not having children are in the driveway, in our closet and stamped on our passports,” says Zeniuk, who’s been married 18 years. “Kids are expensive. And the marriage mortality rate is huge without the added pressure of financing a child throughout its life.”

The 47-year-old is without regret for the path she and her husband have chosen, never once considering anything to be missing from their domestic unit.

“A family consists of those who surround you with love; it has nothing to do with gender, age, status, two legs or four,” says Zeniuk. “Simply put, a family is your choice.”

mharris(at)postmedia.com

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