Literal question
5. What is your marital status?
(For those under 15 years of age, do not ask the question and mark the box "minor".) For those who state "single," before marking that box, ask if the person was ever married or in a consensual union. If the response is negative mark "single"; if affirmative mark the appropriate box under "separated."
Consensual union: one who lives in a marital union without being legally married. Single: one who has never married nor lived in a consensual union. Married: one who has legally married and lives in this state. Widowed: a person whose spouse or partner has died and who has not remarried nor lives in a consensual union. Divorced: a person who is legally separated and who has not remarried nor lives in a consensual union. Separated: one who lives separately from the spouse or partner.
[] 1 Consensual union
[] 2 Single
[] 3 Married
[] 4 Divorced
[] 5 Widowed
Separated:
[] 6 From a marriage
[] 7 From a consensual union
Interviewer instructions
Question 5 What is your marital status?
Do not ask this question to minors of less than 15 years and mark box 8 (minor). For those older than 15 [15 years and older is implied; census form states clearly those less than 15 are minors], mark the corresponding box applying the following definitions:
[The instructions refer to a graphic of question 5 of the census form.]
[Consensually] United: The person who lives in marital union without being married, that is to say, that the person has not been legally married by Law or the Church.
It should be kept in mind that many persons "consensually united" tend wrongly to declare that they are single.
[p. 32]
Single: The person who has never been married nor lived in marital union, that is to say, has no spouse or companion. Before marking this box, ask if the person has ever been married or consensually united since in many cases the person tends to declare themselves "Single" when actually "Separated" from a Marriage or a [Consensual] Union. In these cases mark the corresponding box (6 or 7).
Married: The person who has been legally married (civil or religious) and lives in this state.
Divorced: The person legally separated who has not married again and does not live in marital union.
Widowed: The person whose spouse or companion has died and has not married again and does not live in marital union
Separated from marriage: The person who lives separated from their spouse and does not live in marital union.
Separated from [Consensual] Union: The person who lives separated from their companion and does not live in marital union.
