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Thanks in part to high rates of divorce, an unprecedented one-in-six adult Canadians are now living alone, according to new research by Statistics Canada.

“The number of persons living alone in Canada more than doubled over the last 35 years, from 1.7 million in 1981 to 4.0 million in 2016,” reads a special report grappling with the phenomenon of spiking rates of Canadians with roommates, spouses or live-in romantic partners.

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Single person households are now the most common household type in Canada – the first time in recorded Canadian history this has been the case. Previously, from 1867 to the time of the 2016 census, Canada’s most common household type had been one filled with a family.

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The solo-living shift has been most dramatic in Quebec, where 18 per cent of the over-15 population is now living alone, according to 2016 census data.

Divorce appears to be one the main reasons for the spike. Since 1981, men aged 35 to 64 were most likely to have taken up solo living, largely because they had gone through a divorce where their ex-wife retained custody of any children.