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Canada goes grey: Boomers’ new strain on pensions, health care
Canada is slowly but surely becoming a nation of older people. The demographic trends were confirmed Tuesday, as Statistics Canada released the latest batch of data from its 2011 census. Back in 1971, eight per cent of us were 65 and older.
Last year, as the first wave of baby boomers reached the milestone, the proportion was 14.8 per cent. That’s nearly 5 million seniors (4,945,060, to be exact) out of 33.5 million Canadians.
There were 5,825 Canadians who have reached their 100th birthday — centenarians — and the number is projected to steadily rise to a whopping 78,300 in the next 50 years.
All the while — and here’s a surprise — there’s a mini-baby boom happening in this country. The population of children aged four and under increased 11 per cent between 2006 and 2011 — the highest growth rate for this age group since the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Graphic: Canada’s top killers
Cancer has become the leading cause of death in every province in Canada for the first time, according to newly released data. That’s only part of the story that’s emerged from the numbers released by Statistics Canada, however. The National Post’s graphics team takes a look.
Crime & Punishment: Conclusions about crime ‘badly distorted’
Every summer, Statistics Canada unveils its much-touted crime report showing the country is getting ever safer, with precipitous drops in violent crime over the past decade.
But in a report released Wednesday from the Ottawa think-tank Macdonald-Laurier Institute for Public Policy, author Scott Newark argues statisticians have tweaked the data so much it’s nearly impossible to understand what’s happening to crime in Canada, or how effective the justice system is at cracking down on repeat offenders.
The result is that “many of the most common conclusions that are drawn about crime in Canada are in fact incorrect or badly distorted,” says Mr. Newark, a former Alberta Crown prosecutor.
Violent crime, youth crime and murderous attacks have all been on the rise in Canada, the report shows, with the violent crime rate in 2009 nearly five times what it was in 1962 when Statistics Canada first devised its method of collecting crime statistics from local police departments.
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Graphic: Fewer than 20% of Canadians get enough exercise, says StatsCan
Check out our full visual archive.Fewer than two out of every 10 Canadians are meeting the most up-to-date guidelines for physical activity, according to a Statistics Canada study released Wednesday.
The federal agency said just 15% of adults are meeting the latest proposed guidelines in Canada for averaging 2 1/2 hours per week of moderate to vigorous activity. For children, just 7% are achieving the benchmark of at least one hour a day of activity.
