Making Data Meaningful Part 1: A guide to writing stories about numbers 19
7. Before and after: Applying good writing techniques
To illustrate how to turn a routine statistical story into one with a much stronger story-
line and more effective use of data, here is a ‘before’ and ‘after’ example. Note the
differences.
BEFORE ______________________________________________________________
Divorces
2003
In 2003, 70,828 couples divorced, up a slight
1.0% from the recent low of 70,155 in 2002.
The number of divorces has remained
relatively stable over the last few years. The
year-to-year change has been below two
percent for every year since 1999.
The increase in the number of divorces
between 2002 and 2003 kept pace with the
increase in the Canadian population over this
period. As a result, the crude divorce rate for
2003 remained the same as in 2002, at 223.7
divorces for every 100,000 people in the
population.
The 1.0% increase in the number of divorces
across Canada is primarily due to a 5.1%
increase in the number of divorces in Ontario
and a 1.4% increase in Quebec between 2002
and 2003. Prince Edward Island and
Saskatchewan were the only other provinces to
experience an increase in the number of
divorces between these years. Newfoundland
and Labrador showed the largest percentage
decrease by far in the number of divorces,
down 21.4%.
Repeat divorces, involving people who had
been divorced at least once before, are
accounting for an increasing proportion of
divorces.
In 1973, only 5.4% of divorces involved
husbands who had previously been divorced.
Thirty years later this proportion has tripled to
16.2% of all divorces.
The proportion of divorces involving wives who
had previously been divorced is similar, rising
from 5.4% to 15.7% over this thirty year period.
Marriage stability can be assessed using
divorce rates based on years of marriage. The
proportion of marriages expected to end in
divorce by the 30th wedding anniversary
inched up to 38.3% in 2003, from 37.6% in
2002.
The divorce rate varies greatly depending on
how long couples have been married, rising
rapidly in the first few years of marriage. The
peak divorce rate in 2003 occurred after three
years of marriage, when 26.2 out of 1,000
marriages ended in divorce. The risk of divorce
decreased slowly for each additional year of
marriage.
The custody of dependents, the vast majority
of whom are children aged 18 and under, was
granted through divorce court proceedings in
27% of 2003 divorces
In the remaining divorces, couples arrived at
custody arrangements outside the divorce
proceedings, or they did not have dependents.
The number of dependents in these divorces is
not available.
There has been a 17-year trend of steady
increases in joint custody arrangements. Of
the 33,000 dependents for whom custody was
determined through divorce proceedings in
2003, 43.8% were awarded to the husband
and wife jointly, up 2.0% from 2002. Under a
joint custody arrangement, dependents do not
necessarily spend equal amounts of their time
with each parent.
The custody of 47.7% of dependents was
awarded to the wife and 8.3% to the husband
in 2003. In 2002, these percentages were
49.5% and 8.5%, respectively.
The shelf tables Divorces, 2003 (84F0213XPB,
$22) are now available.
For general information or to order custom
tabulations, contact Client Custom Services
(613-951-1746; hd-ds@statcan.ca). To enquire
about the concepts, methods or data quality of
this release, contact Brent Day (613-951-4280;
Statistics Division.