RELATION OF CONJUGAL CONDITION TO NATIVITY 75
CONJUGAL CONDITION AND NATIVITY
Data on the conjugal condition of the population are not available for the separate
stocks nor for the different groups of immigrants by country of birth. The census, however,
has published the information classifying the population as Canadian born, British born
and foreign born. Table 37 shows the percentage single of the population 15 years of age
and over by sex, according to the above classification of places of birth. A few interesting
points brought out in this table may be briefly mentioned.
First, the percentage single for each sex in the case of the Canadian born is greater
than in the case of British born or foreign born in every province except Prince Edward
Island, where the percentages for the foreign born are somewhat higher. The exception is
interesting but not significant because the number of foreign born in Prince Edward Island
is so very small. Thus in Canada as a whole and in practically every province in Canada,
the proportion of the British born and the foreign born over fifteen years of age who either
are married or have been married, is greater than that for the Canadian born population.
This may be due in part to the lower age of marriage customary among people born outside
Canada and in part, to differences in age distribution. These points will be discussed
below, but a probable explanation does not alter the significance of the larger proportion
married, from the standpoint of future population.
The second fact of interest is that for all classes the proportion of females single is
smaller than the proportion of males, That is to be expected in the light of the previous
discussion on sex distribution. Further, the difference between the percentage of men and
women single, is greater for the foreign born and British born than for the Canadian born,
That this should be so follows logically from the greater excess of males among the foreign
and British born sections of the population than among the Canadian born.
In the third place, the percentages of single males of Canadian and British birth, tend
to increase in passing from Ontario westward, and with the exception of Manitoba, the same
tendency is evident among the foreign born from Quebec west. Manitoba with only 30-11
p.c. foreign born males single has the smallest percentage of any province in the Dominion.
The exceptional behaviour of the percentages in the Maritime Provinces may also be noted.
As opposed to the males, the percentages of single females tend to decrease in passing westward
from Quebec for all groups except the Canadian born in Manitoba, where there is a
rather larger percentage of single women than in Ontario or the provinces further west.
The two inferences from these facts seem to be; first, that the conjugal condition of
the population differs as between the far east, the central and the far western parts of
Canada, and secondly, that there is a proportionately greater surplus of single foreign born
males in the far west and in the far east than in the central provinces.
TABLE 37.—PERCENTAGE OF SINGLE MALES AND FEMALES, FIFTEEN YEARS OF AGE AND
OVER. CLASSIFIED AS CANADIAN, BRITISH AND FOREIGN BORN, BY PROVINCES, 1921.
Provinces
~onada |
Prince Edward Island. . .
Nova Scotia. ....covuvenrearnnnnns
New Brunswick..... .. . 4
QUEbEC. coc ieiiinn i ine ae
8) 17:1 & {SA
Manitoba. ......ovvvreeiranrnr oe
Saskatchewan... ....coovevss
Abort, coo cums swe
Rritiah OCalimbia
Males
All | Canadian | British
Classes Born Born
Foreign
Born
39.09
41-73
ning
22.57
a:
3%
26
42-88
41-19
nq
47 10
45.7
ar oF
1e 2f
aR. 71
46-5
Females
All [Canadian British | Foreign
Classer Born Born Born
19.35
21.96
i. 928
3°14
2097
22-06
13-86
2-87
51
ne
on
43-13
27-05
24-52
“12
80
10
65
x +85
15-14
aK A
arty
Table 38 shows the percentage of the population fifteen years of age and over single,
by quinquennial age groups, for Canada. ‘Comparing the percentages for the males in the
three grouvs. foreign born, British born and Canadian born. the first point to note is the
