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Gender has less of an influence on the question. All women, regardless of age, are more likely to say marriage is unimportant, as are most men. The only exception is men older than 55.

Even when unmarried couples have a child together, a majority of Canadians says it is either “not that important” or “not important at all” for them to legally marry. That split is widest among people aged 35-44 and is reversed only in the age range above 65, where a majority say it is important.

We’re now of an age where you see Baby Boomers of Gen Xers telling their children or their nieces and nephews, ‘It’s not that important'

Being part of a visible minority had a strong effect on the numbers, making a person far more likely to regard marriage as important.

But the overall trend is clear. Marriage is losing its cultural clout in a country where more than one-fifth of all couples are common law, according to Statistics Canada. That is more than three times higher than the rate in 1981. One-person households became the most common type of households for the first time in 2016, surpassing couples with children. And the percentage of 18-34 year-olds who were married declined from 56 per cent in 1971 to a low of 21 per cent in 2011, ticking back up to 22 per cent in 2016.

“You see really significant numbers of people across those age demographics who are not convinced of the importance of marriage, whether it is civil or religious; who are not convinced of its relevance; and who are not convinced of its necessity or relevance even when there’s a child involved,” said Shachi Kurl, executive director of the Angus Reid Institute, which did the survey.