National Household Survey (NHS)

Legal marital status of person, category

Legal marital status refers to the marital status of the person under the law (e.g., single, married, widowed). All persons aged less than 15 are considered as single.

Person refers to an individual and is the unit of analysis for most social statistics programs.

The data for this variable are reported using the following classifications and/or lists:

• Legal marital status

  In the 2011 National Household Survey, the phrase "including living common law" was not used. "Single (including living common law)" was called "Single (never legally married)". "Separated (including living common law)" was called "Separated, but not legally married".