Map(s) of the week: Marital status

HARRISON SMITH/TORONTO STAR

Another three-map project this week, this time about marriage in the GTA: what proportion of the adult population are single, married or separated or divorced,  by riding. Click on the image at left to start the series.

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Nerd box: I've added little icons to make chart links more obvious.

Comments

[v]

workplaces and educational institutions encourage the spread of divorced by giving Teachers and professionals the cliche "You dont look to be happy..any problems with your partner?"
Once this seed is nurtured even best of married couples tend to think " O yes I am not happy" and this then is good for the economy.. separate homes, cars, furniture, bills, lawyers, therapists, mortgage but bad for those parties involved...
And one BIG point is the government spends MORE money on BREAKING HOMES and less maintaining them strong...worst affected are the children of separated parents

[E.F.]

I can't count the number of times, after a blow up with hubbie that I thought to myself, I would be so financially better off without a husband. I've got two kids, I'm a union employee so I've got an adequate paycheque but I'm not swimming in money. I would be so much better off without him because the government will step in and make sure that my kids are looked after through bonuses and tax breaks. So, yes, I agree that the government really paves the way for people either to not get married at all, but have kids nonetheless, or to get divorced if money is tight.

[Jen]

This is very interesting, it seemed to me alot to do with the types of housing available in certain areas and the demographics related to that. In downtown Toronto, there are many more condos and apartment type dwellings that are more appropriate for a single person. And the map shows that with higher levels of single people living there. Tiny condos that are 500 square feet really accommodate only one person. And single people often aren't interested in the larger, detached homes in the north end of the city.
I have absolutely no comment on the divorced/separated rate as the map has actually very little to show us about how that impacts families (we're dealing with individuals only not households) and that personal situations can vary drastically person by person.