Fewer of us marry or divorce; and we don't have as many kids: Gap between rich, poor is widening, and full-time work doesn't always save you from poverty, report says
Vancouver Sun
April 26, 2006
By Norma Greenaway
EXCERPT

OTTAWA -- Fewer Canadians are marrying, fewer are divorcing and they're having fewer children, according to a report being released today that also says the gap is widening between the richest and poorest Canadians.

The report by the Canadian Council on Social Development documents the struggle low-income parents have in making ends meet.

The finding that in 2004, it cost about $166,700 to raise a child from birth to age 18 is enough to give many people pause. The single largest component of the tally, based on the cost of raising a child in Manitoba, was $54,000 for child care….

The council's report paints a portrait of Canada that demonstrates the gap between rich and poor remains stubbornly wide, and that shows full-time work is no guarantee of avoiding the poverty trap.

It said one in three Canadian children living in poverty in 2003 had at least one family member who worked full-time for the entire year. In 1993, the figures was one-in-four.

The report said the pre-tax average income in 2003 for the richest 10 per cent of Canadian families with children was $208,300, up 35 per cent from $154,000 a decade earlier.

By contrast, the average annual income of the poorest 10 per cent of families rose by seven per cent to $16,000.

This means the richest 10 per cent of families with children had $13 for every $1 of income of the poorest families in 2003. A decade earlier, the ratio was $10 to $1.

The report found one bright spot in the picture. It credits direct government transfers, especially the National Child Benefit (NCB) introduced by the Liberal government of Jean Chretien, with helping to reduce the child poverty rate to 18 per cent in 2003. Without the transfers, the rate would have been 27 per cent, the report said.

The Conservatives have promised to maintain the NCB, which was designed primarily to assist the working poor.

The report is an analysis by council researchers of data provided mostly by Statistics Canada, and a breakout of data contained in the 1996 and 2001 census.

OTHER FINDINGS ABOUT FAMILIES:

Among other things, the report found:

- Fewer babies are being born. Between 1994 and 2003, the annual number of births in Canada dropped 14 per cent to 331,522 from 385,114.

- Motherhood is being delayed. Two decades ago, only one-quarter of women giving birth were over the age of 40. By 2003, almost half, or 48 per cent, were aged 30 or older.

- Mothers aged 30 and over were in the majority in Ontario (54 per cent) and British Columbia (53 per cent).

- Children most likely to live in poverty are aboriginal, recent immigrants, members of visible minorities, and those with some form of disability.

- There are fewer marriages. In 2003, there were 145,000, down nine percent from 1994.

- The number of divorces is declining. In 2003, there were about 721,000 divorces in Canada, down 10 per cent from 1984. The Canadian divorce rate peaked at 41 per cent in 1986, and has remained relatively stable since then at 38 per cent.

- Significantly more children live with common-law parents. In 2001, about 733,000 children under the age of 15, or 13 per cent, lived in such arrangements. The rate 20 years earlier was only three per cent.

- Children in Quebec were much more likely to live with common-law parents, 29 per cent compared with eight per cent of children elsewhere.