Break-up

With the passing of the Divorce Act in 1968, grounds for divorce were extended to include 'no-fault' divorce based on separation for at least three years; in 1986, the separation period was revised to one year. The easing of Canada's divorce laws, combined with other social changes, marked a significant shift in the way Canadians perceived marriage and divorce. Within a decade of the introduction of the Divorce Act, the total divorce rate (the percentage of marriages that dissolved in the past 30-year period) rose from 14% of all marriages in 1969 to 30% in 1975.

The total crude divorce rate peaked at 362 divorces per 100,000 inhabitants in 1987. The divorce rate in 2000 was 231 per 100,000 inhabitants.

The risk of divorce varies substantially with the duration of marriage. In 2000, the lowest risk of divorce was in the first year of marriage, with less than one divorce for every 1,000 marriages. The risk then increased. After the first anniversary, the divorce rate was 5.1 per 1,000 marriages. This climbed to 17.0 after the second anniversary, to 23.6 after the third, and up to the peak of 25.5 after the fourth anniversary. For each additional year of marriage after the fourth, the risk of divorce decreased slowly.

In 2000, the majority (60%) of divorces were of couples married for less than 15 years. The proportion of marriages expected to end in divorce by the 30th wedding anniversary increased slightly from 36.1% in 1998 to 37.7% in 2000. However, it remained below the most recent high of 40% in 1995 and well below the all-time high of 50.6% in 1987. The most recent low was 34.8% in 1997.