Literal question
5. Marital status
Are you single, married, in a consensual union, widowed or divorced?
[] 1 Single
[] 2 Married
[] 3 Consensual union
[] 4 Widowed
[] 5 Divorced
[] 9 Unknown
Interviewer instructions
Question #5: Marital status
a. How to ask the question:
Is the person unmarried, married, in a consensual union, widowed, or divorced?
The following definitions will help in the correct classification of each person according to their marital status or conjugal situation:
1) Single: The person who has never been married and who does not live in a consensual union.
2) Married: The person who has entered into a civil and/or religious marriage and who lives conjugally with their legal spouse.
3) Consensual union: A person who, without being legally or religiously married, lives in a conjugal union with another person of the opposite sex and has formed a family.
4) Widowed: A person, having been married or in a consensual union, whose spouse has passed away and who has not remarried and who does not live in a consensual union.
5) Divorced: A person whose marriage was legally dissolved and who has not remarried and who does not live in a consensual union. Included in this category are those in a de facto separation from a religious and/or civil marriage and who does not live in a consensual union.
[p. 50]
b. How to record the information:
The different categories are mutually exclusive; therefore, only one box is marked with an "X" in the box corresponding to the marital status or conjugal situation of the enumerated person. The box unmarried is marked for minors.
c. Examples:
[These instructions refer to a graph of question 5 on the census form]
