Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Canada's population aging but toddlers surging too

Canada now has a higher proportion of seniors than ever before but at the same time the number of Canadians under five has also grown. The under five group has grown by 1 per cent a reversal of previous trends.

Laurent Marter from Statistics Canada said:"I wouldn't call it a baby boom, although I think we can call it a significant increase," But the most prominent increase is in people over 65.

In the last five years people over 65 have grown by 14.1 per cent. At the same time population growth overall has been just 5.9 per cent. The group is poised to grow even faster.

People aged 60 to 64 is the faster growing group increasing by 29.1 per cent since the last census five years ago. In contrast those under 15 grew by just .5 per cent. In a short time Canada will have more seniors than children.

. The median age in Canada is 40.6 the highest ever. Two decades ago it was 33.5. The Atlantic provinces and Quebec are aging more quickly than the west. In the Prairie provinces the proportion of seniors did not change at all. Perhaps this is because many seniors on the prairies move to more temperate climates such as BC. For much more see this CBC article.

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