Valentine’s Day — by the numbers
Tuesday, Feb. 14, is Valentine’s Day.
Named for Saint Valentine, today is a day when couples express their love for each other by sending cards, exchanging gifts of chocolate, roses or personal items and sharing romantic dinners by candlelight.
Here are some facts on assorted topics related to Valentine’s Day, courtesy of Statistics Canada:
• Will you be my Valentine?
52% — The proportion of Canadians who are single (including never-married, widowed or divorced).
48% — The proportion of Canadians who are married (including legally married, legally married and separated and common-law unions).
17,059,166 — The total number of single (including never-married, widowed or divorced) males and females of all ages in Canada as of July 1, 2007.
15,916,860 — The total number of married (including legally married, legally married and separated, and common-law unions) males and females of all ages in Canada as of July 1, 2007.
• Will you marry me?
7,437,430 — The number of opposite-sex couples in Canada in 2006. Of these, about 6.1 million (82.0%) were married couples and 1.3 million (18.0%) were common-law couples.
45,345 — The number of same-sex couples in 2006. Of these, about 7,500 (16.5%) were married couples and 37,900 (83.5%) were common-law couples.
54% — The proportion of same-sex married spouses who were men.
46% — The proportion of same-sex married spouses who were women.
• A special meal
(Food purchased from restaurants also includes refreshment stands, snack bars, vending machines, mobile canteens, caterers and coffee wagons.)
$1,577 — The average amount that Canadian households spent on food purchased from restaurants in 2009.
93.9% — The proportion of households in Canada reporting expenditures on food purchased from restaurants in 2009.
12,592,290 — The number of households in Canada reporting expenditures on food purchased from restaurants in 2009.
• A special gift
$2.3 billion — The total value of cosmetics and fragrances sold at retailers in Canada in 2010.
$3 billion — The total value of jewelry and watches sold at retailers in Canada in 2010.
$1.6 billion — The total value of women’s lingerie, sleepwear and intimates sold at retailers in Canada in 2010.
$591.5 million — The total value of men’s underwear, sleepwear and hosiery sold at retailers in Canada in 2010.
$1.3 billion — The total value of giftware, novelties and souvenirs sold at retailers in Canada in 2010.
$3 billion — The total value of stationery, office supplies, cards, gift wrap and party supplies sold at retailers in Canada in 2010.
• A glass of red wine
62% — The proportion of the volume of sales of red wine (including rosé wines) relative to white wines sold in Canada in 2009/2010.
169% — The growth in the value of sales of red wine in Canada between 2000 and 2010. Dollar sales of white wine rose at a much slower pace (+56%) during the same period.
75% — The proportion of red wines sold in Canada in 2009/2010 that were imported.
61% — The proportion of white wines sold in Canada in 2009/2010 that were imported.
$5.8 billion — The value of all wines sold by wineries, liquor stores and agencies in Canada in 2009/2010, up 3.1% from the previous year.
456.5 million litres — The volume of wine sold at wineries, liquor stores and agencies in Canada in 2009/2010, a 3.4% increase. The growth in sales of imported wine outpaced the growth of domestic wine sales.
• 143! 143, too!
(“143” = “I love you” in chat or text lingo: 1 = “I”; 4 = “love”; 3 = “you”)
47% — The proportion of Canadian Internet users who used an instant messenger to communicate in 2010.
24% — The proportion of Canadian Internet users who made online telephone calls in 2010.
Nearly half — The amount of their online time Canadian Internet users spent, on average, emailing or chatting with others in 2005.
• A box of chocolates
221 — The number of manufacturers of chocolate and confectioneries from cocoa beans and from purchased chocolate in Canada in 2009.
$1.5 billion — The total revenue of manufacturers of chocolate and confectioneries from cacoa beans in Canada in 2009. (Data for the revenues of companies that manufacture confectionaries using purchased chocolate are suppressed to meet the confidentiality requirements of the Statistics Act.)
• A bouquet of roses
12 million — The number of stems of roses produced in Canada in 2010. This represents a million bouquets of a dozen roses each.
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