TORONTO - New census data indicates that senior citizens make up 11.9 per cent of the population who live in and around Toronto -- a larger proportion than five years ago and a trend that relects the continuing greying of Canada.
Information from the 2006 census released Tuesday by Statistics Canada shows that seniors --those aged 65 and older -- represent 11.9 per cent of the overall population of what's known as the census metropolitan area of Toronto which includes the city itself and its surrounding suburbs. Five years ago, 11.3 per cent were seniors.
The census also indicates those from the baby boomer generation account for 29.5 per cent of the population in the Toronto region -- a segment of society that is approaching senior-citizen status.
The breakdown of other generational cohorts in the Toronto census region: parents of Baby Boomers make up 8.7 per cent; those born during the Second World War represent 5.6 per cent; the so-called Baby Busters, born after the Boomer generation, are 14.0 per cent and children of Baby Boomers make up 28.3 per cent.
Nationally, seniors are making up a larger proportion of the Canadian population -- 13.7 per cent of the population in 2006, up from 13.0 per cent of the 2001 population. Twenty-five years ago, just 9.7 per cent of Canada's population was seniors and in 1961, it was only 7.6 per cent.
Canada's population as a whole has been gradually getting older for many years -- no matter how you measure it, either by the number of seniors or the median age. The implications of an aging population raise complex social challenges: pressures on the health care system, concerns about seniors having adequate savings and pensions for retirement, more people leaving the workforce than entering it.
One of the reasons why Canadian society is getting older is that the country's fertility rate is relatively low. Census data released earlier this year showed the national fertility rate -- the average number of children a woman will have between age 15 and 49 -- was just 1.5, far below the 2.1 per woman it takes to replace the dying population.
The number of children in the Toronto region -- those aged 14 and under -- makes up 18.6 per cent of the region's population. Nationally, children represent 17.7 per cent of Canadian society.
When the census data was collected in May 2006 the median age of those living in the Toronto region was 37.5, compared to 36.2 in 2001. Statistics Canada defines median age as the point where exactly one half of the population is older than the median age and the other half is younger.
The median age for Ontario in 2006 was 39.0. Five years ago, the provincial median age was 37.2. The new census data also shows Canada's median age was 39.5 in 2006, compared with 37.6 in 2001.
At the provincial level, the senior population increased to 13.6 per cent in 2006 from 12.9 per cent from the previous census.
Saskatchewan had the highest proportion of seniors among all Canadian provinces and territories, with those 65 and over making up 15.4 per cent of the population. The breakdown for other provinces and territories: Nova Scotia (15.1); Prince Edward Island (14.9) ; New Brunswick(14.7); British Columbia (14.6); Quebec (14.3) ; Manitoba (14.1); Newfoundland and Labrador; Ontario (13.6); Alberta (10.7); Yukon Territory (7.5); Northwest Territories (4.8); Nunavut (2.7).
The new census data released Tuesday also breaks down the population by sex. In 2006, the population of those in the Toronto region was made up of 2,626,895 females a change of +9.4 per cent from the 2001 census) and 2,486,255 males (a change of +8.9 per cent).
The census is conducted every five years by Statistics Canada and is based on information filled out by Canadians on census day: May 16, 2006. The data released Tuesday on age and sex follows information on overall population growth released in March. Future census information to be released by Statistics Canada over the coming months will give demographic breakdowns of a variety of topics, including marital status, language, immigration, labour force activity and education.
Census metropolitan areas do not conform to established municipal boundaries. Statistics Canada determines its own geographic definition of a metropolitan area with a population of at least 100,000, but it also includes surrounding urban and rural communities based on analysis of commuting patterns and other factors. Looking at metropolitan areas this way takes in to account the growing impact of suburban areas on Canada's largest cities.
