Summary of Marriage-Related Statistics

Marriages by Marital Status of Bride and Groom, British Columbia, 2001
Highlights to Table 47

Marriages by Age of Bride and Groom, British Columbia, 2001
Highlights to Table 48

Religious Representatives on Register and Marriages Performed by Religious
Denomination, British Columbia, 2001
Marriage Commissioners on Register by Type and Marriages Performed,
British Columbia, 2001
Highlights to Table 49/Table 50

Summary

Statistics arising from marriages are presented in this section. Unlike the birth and death statistics, which are based on usual residence, the marriage information is based on all marriages that occurred in British Columbia and includes non-residents. The tables in this section contain information about marriages by previous marital status, age of bride and groom, and type of ceremony.

Summary statistics for marriages in 2001 are presented below:

A total of 20,554 marriages were solemnized in the province in 2001. This number represents a seven percent reduction from the 22,094 marriages in 2000. The marriage rate has shown a downward trend in the last two decades, from 9.0 marriages per 1,000 population in 1980 to 5.0 in 2001(see Table 1).
In 2001, 61.4% of couples were marrying for the first time. In 20.0% of the marriages in 2001 it was the first marriage for only one of the parties, and 18.6% of marriages involved couples where both partners were previously divorced or widowed.
Approximately a quarter of all brides and a quarter of all grooms who were married in 2001 had previously been divorced.

Marriages where either the bride or groom was under 20 years of age accounted for approximately one out of every 40 marriages, and there were only 72 marriages where both the bride and groom were teenagers.
Marriages where both the bride and groom were 60+ years of age accounted for one out of every 50 marriages.
In 2001, religious representatives performed approximately 43% of the marriages (8,869) and approximately 57% were civil ceremonies (11,685).

Personal information collected by the Vital Statistics Agency is protected under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and is treated with confidentiality.