Financial tips for modern families

What it means to be a family has changed dramatically over the past generation.

There are more than 9.3 million families in Canada, but the portion that fits the typical idea of married partners with children is falling, notes Statistics Canada.

At 67%, families anchored by married partners are still the most common, but that’s down from 70% in 2006. The 2011 census counted 1.5 million common-law couple families, going from 14% of the family population in 2006 to 17% in 2011.

For the first time, the census also counted the number of blended families. They made up 12.6% of the 3.7 million families with children in 2011. Of those, 5.2% were what StatsCan calls complex stepfamilies, which are made up of biological or adopted offspring of one parent as well as the children of both parents. (Think of Gloria and Jay’s children, Manny and Joe, on Modern Family.)

The Sandwich Generation is busy taking care of older parents too. Nearly 360,000 Canadian households are made up of families with children, parents and grandparents living under one roof.

Here are articles and resources for all kinds of families.

Modern families by the numbers