According to new data published by the Institut de la statistique du Québec, Quebec recorded a huge decline in marriages in 2020. It was in fact the lowest recorded number of marriages in over 100 years.
Quebecers celebrated around 11,300 marriages in 2020, a number that's "down by half (-49%) compared to 2019, an unprecedented drop in Quebec," the Institut wrote in a press release.
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Institut de la statistique du Québec
This is the fewest marriages in the province since 1903, according to the data.
The decline is attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic and government restrictions.
The decline was "particularly significant" in summer 2020, with a drop of "around 70% compared to the average for 2015 to 2019."
According to the figures, "the decrease was greater among couples made up of two spouses born in Canada (-60%), while it appears less marked among couples in which both spouses were born abroad (-25%) or those in which one of the spouses was born abroad (-32%)."
During the first months of 2021, the Institute reports that the number of marriages in Quebec remains "below average."