Canada, eh! Happy Birthday!
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Released: 2019-06-28
You're a proud Canadian when you know…
1. Coast to coast to coast, Canada is the second largest country in the world—all 9 976 182 square kilometres of it.
2. Canadians have big hearts. In 2017, total donations reported by Canadian tax filers rose to $9.6 billion.
3. Canadians are educated. In 2016, more than half (54.0%) of Canadians aged 25 to 64 had either college or university qualifications.
4. Canadians love their beer. Beer sales accounted for 39.7% of market share of alcohol sales in 2017/2018. Yup—beer, beans and bacon—Canadians like their "B" food groups!
5. You can drive forever in Canada. The country's road network is long enough to circle the Earth's equator more than 19 times—now that's a road trip!
6. Our liquid gold is maple syrup. We have more taps on maple trees than we have people—47 million taps in fact. Those taps produce a lot of syrup: 12.2 million gallons in 2016.
7. Canadians live long lives; in 2015, life expectancy was almost 82.2 years, twelfth overall, with Japan in the top spot at 83.7 years.
8. Like to walk along a beach? Canada's 243 042 kilometre coastline on three oceans is the longest in the world—bring your camera and remember to hydrate.
9. Canadians love the great outdoors and hockey remains the most popular sport in the country.
10. Canadians love their national sports teams. Canadian sports teams and clubs from the National Hockey League, Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association and Major League Soccer accounted for 63.4% of the spectator sports industry's total operating revenue of $3.2 billion in 2015. #WeTheNorth
Bonus: Canada's growth is linked to immigration. According to the 2016 Census, more than 7.5 million foreign-born individuals came to Canada through the immigration process—that's almost 25% of our population. And we have diversity covered—with over 250 ethnic origins reported in the 2016 Census.
Note to readers
Data on life expectancy, which were taken from the website Wikipedia, are from the World Health Organization.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; STATCAN.infostats-infostats.STATCAN@canada.ca) or Media Relations (613-951-4636; STATCAN.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.STATCAN@canada.ca).
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