COVID-19 saw Canadian divorces at their lowest point in nearly 50 years

In 2020, Canada saw the lowest number of divorces in nearly 50 years.

The “Family Count 2024” report from The Vanier Institute of the Family suggests that the drop in Canadian divorces was largely the result of the COVID-19 pandemic and disruptions to courts granting divorces.

During the pandemic’s height in 2020, divorces dropped by 24 percent in a year—the greatest decline seen in available Statistics Canada data.

University of Victoria business professor Sorin Rizeanu writes that the cost of living alone, combined with divorce legal fees, today makes divorce a very pricey endeavour. In 2022, Canadian divorces averaged $18,000, and as much as $33,000.

“Why did Al and Peg Bundy from the sitcom Married… with Children never get divorced? After all, they were rarely happy and constantly arguing,” Rizeanu wrote in a May article for The Conversation. “It is now very difficult for someone on an average salary to take on a new mortgage on their own. So divorced Al and Peg will likely be life-long renters. With an average apartment in Canada’s major cities renting for well over $2,000 a month, it would be very difficult if not impossible for Al to support two households.”

Since 1990, the number of divorces has been declining at an average rate of two percent per year. That’s a significant shift from 1970 to 1990, when the number of divorces grew, on average, five percent over the previous year.

Last century’s upward divorce trend was due in large part to changes to 1968’s Divorce Act. A broadening amendment to the act in 1985 made obtaining a divorce significantly easier, according to the Vanier Institute. The amendment partially removed the “fault” component of divorce actions and allowed for divorce after either physical or mental abuse, or one year of separation (as opposed to the previous three). This explains 1987’s historic 25 percent spike in divorces.