Father's Day... by the numbers

2017

• Fathers in Canada
• Places just for dads
• New dads
• Parental leave by dads
• Same-sex parents
• Stepparents
• Children's living arrangements after separation or divorce
• Lone parents
• Children living with single dads
• Employment of lone parents
• Fathers' participation in domestic tasks and care for children
• Stay-home dads
• Work-life balance of parents

Sunday, June 18 is Father's Day. It is a day for Canadians to show their appreciation for fathers and father figures.

To help celebrate this special day, we at Statistics Canada have prepared a variety of interesting facts about fathers in Canada.

(Last updated: June 2017)

Fathers in Canada

• 8.6 million — the total number of fathers in Canada (including biological, adoptive and stepfathers) in 2011.

• 3.8 million — the number of fathers in Canada with children under 18 living with them (including biological, adoptive and step fathers) in 2011.

Source: General Social Survey - Family, 2011 (Cycle 25).

Places just for dads

• Ashdad, Ontario
• Bagdad, New Brunswick
• Dadens, British Columbia
• Village-des-Pères, Québec
• Pointe-au-Père, Québec

Source: Census Profile, 2016 Census

New dads

• 28.3 years — the average age of fathers at the time of the birth of their first biological child in Canada in 2011.

Source: Social and Aboriginal Statistics Division, Statistics Canada.

Parental leave by dads

• 30.0% — the share of recent fathers for all provinces combined who claimed or intended to claim leave in 2015, up from 27.1% in 2014.
• 85.8% — the proportion of recent fathers in Quebec who claimed or intended to claim parental leave in 2015.

The Quebec Parental Insurance Plan (QPIP), which was introduced in 2006, has had a major impact on the number of fathers who claimed or intended to claim parental benefits in Quebec. It includes leave that applies exclusively to fathers. Since the introduction of this program, the proportion of new fathers in Quebec who claimed or intended to claim parental benefits increased by 58.0 percentage points, from 27.8% in 2005 to 85.8% in 2015.

• 11.9% — the proportion of recent fathers in the other provinces who claimed or intended to claim parental leave in 2015, up from 10.7% in 2014.

Source: "Employment Insurance Coverage Survey, 2015," The Daily, November 16, 2016.

Same-sex parents

Beginning in 2001, children living with two parents could be distinguished as living with either opposite-sex or same-sex parents in the census.

• 1,900 — the number of children aged 24 and under living with male same‑sex parents in 2011. Another 7,700 lived with female same-sex parents in 2011.

Source: "Enduring diversity: Living arrangements of children in Canada over 100 years of the census," Demographic Documents, released Tuesday, April 29, 2014.

Source data: Conjugal Status, Opposite/Same-sex Status and Presence of Children for the Couple Census Families in Private Households of Canada, Provinces, Territories and Census Metropolitan Areas, 2011 Census

Stepparents

• About 41,700 — the number of children aged 1 to 7 who lived with their stepfather and biological mother in 2010.
• About 7,200 — the number of children aged 1 to 7 who lived with their biological father and stepmother in 2010.

Source: Survey of Young Canadians, 2010/2011.

Children's living arrangements after separation or divorce

• 15% — the proportion of children whose primary residence after a separation or divorce was their father's home.
• 70% — the proportion of children whose primary residence after a separation or divorce was their mother's home.
• 9% — the proportion of children who had equal living time between the two parents' homes.
• 6% — the proportion of children who had other living arrangements.

Source: "Study: Parenting and child support after separation or divorce, 2011," The Daily, Wednesday, February 12, 2014.

Lone parents

• 1,527,840 — the total number of lone-parent families in Canada in 2011.
• 21% — the proportion of lone-parent families headed by a male in Canada in 2011.
• 79% — the proportion of lone-parent families headed by a female in Canada in 2011.

Among lone-parent families, growth was more than twice as strong between 2006 and 2011 for male lone-parent families (+16.2%) compared with female lone-parent families (+6.0%).

Source: "2011 Census of Population: Families, households, marital status, structural type of dwelling, collectives," The Daily, Wednesday, September 19, 2012.

Children living with single dads

• 20.1% — the proportion of children aged 24 and under in lone-parent families living with a male lone parent in 2011.
• 15.5% — the proportion of children aged 24 and under in lone-parent families living with a male lone parent in 1996.
• 16.6% — the proportion of children aged 24 and under in lone-parent families living with a male lone parent in 1991.
• 28.1% — the proportion of children aged 24 and under in lone-parent families living with a male lone parent in 1941.
• 40.0% — the proportion of children aged 24 and under in lone-parent families living with a male lone parent in 1901.

While lone parents have always been more likely to be female, in the early decades of the 20th century, relatively high maternal mortality contributed to proportionally more male lone parents.

Source: Canadian Megatrends, "Lone-parent families: The new face of an old phenomenon," released February 24, 2015.

Employment of lone parents

The absence of a spouse/partner tends to hinder the employment of parents.

• 82.1% — the proportion of lone fathers who were employed, compared to 90.5% of fathers in couples in 2016.
• 72.9% — the proportion of lone mothers who were employed, compared to 76.2% of mothers in couples in 2016.

Source: Labour Statistics Division, Statistics Canada

Fathers' participation in domestic tasks and care for children

• 76% — the proportion of fathers participating in household work in 2015, up from 51% in 1986.
• 2.4 hours — the average length of time that fathers spent per day performing household work in 2015, on days when they did such work, compared with 2.0 hours in 1986.
• 49% — the proportion of fathers providing help and care to their children in 2015, up from 33% in 1986.

Source: "Changes in parents' participation in domestic tasks and care for children from 1986 to 2015" The Daily, Thursday June 1, 2017.

Stay-home dads

While the vast majority of stay-at-home parents in Canada are women, increasingly more Canadian fathers are taking on the job of stay-at-home parent.

• 1 in 10 — the proportion of families with dad as the stay-home parent in 2015.
• 1 in 70 — the proportion of families with dad as the stay-home parent 1976.
• 18% — the proportion of families with dad as the stay-at-home parent in the Atlantic provinces in 2015―the highest proportion of all regions. The lowest proportion was in Alberta (6%).

Source: Canadian Megatrends, "The changing profile of stay-at-home parents", released September 28, 2016

Work-life balance of parents

In 2012, the majority of Canadian parents reported being satisfied with the balance between their job and home life. Fathers were more likely than mothers to express satisfaction with their work–life balance.

• 78% — the proportion of fathers in a couple family who worked full-time and reported being satisfied with work-life balance, compared with 73% of mothers.
• 75% — the proportion of fathers among parents with at least one young child (aged 0 to 4) who reported being satisfied with work-life balance, compared with 68% of mothers.
• 69% — the proportion of fathers who worked 50 or more hours a week and reported being satisfied or very satisfied with this balance, compared with 60% of mothers.

Source: Spotlight on Canadians, Results from the General Social Survey. Satisfaction with work-life balance: Fact sheet, released April 14, 2016