Analysis

Description: Canada’s population is aging rapidly, with implications for the health care system, including increasing demand for specialist care. However, few studies have examined factors associated with specialist care use. Data from the 2024 Survey on Health Care Access and Experiences – Primary and Specialist Care were used in this study to identify factors associated with specialist care use, difficulty accessing specialist care, and to examine the relationship between access difficulties and unmet health care needs among middle-aged (45 to 64 years) and older (65 years or older) adults in Canada.

Description: We introduce a general framework for constructing master samples that preserve desirable design properties across panels. The core procedure is to order an initial probability sample. Since the final sequence must be robust to a uniform random rotation, we define and minimize an objective that aggregates panel-level performance across all possible circular panels. A final random rotation is applied to ensure design validity. The framework is flexible with respect to the choice of design criteria, such as spatial balance or marginal balance, and can be implemented efficiently using simulated annealing to obtain high-quality approximate solutions. By construction, the approach supports both positive and negative sample coordination for spatially balanced, marginally balanced, and doubly balanced samples. The method’s versatility is demonstrated through three applications: constructing a master sample with spatially balanced panels, marginally balanced panels, and doubly balanced panels.

Description: Combining estimates from independent surveys via inverse-variance weights can lead to negative bias when unknown variances are estimated and the target variable is non-negative and positively skewed. In such cases, strong positive correlations typically arise between the estimators and their corresponding variance estimators, causing standard linear combinations with inverse-variance weights to exhibit negative bias. We introduce a strikingly simple method to reduce bias: replace the standard weight with the ratio of the estimator to the variance estimator. Under a linear model linking the two, we show that the new ratio-weighted estimator is approximately unbiased, whereas the conventional inverse-variance combination exhibits downward bias. Through simulations, we demonstrate that the new method brings both the bias and the mean squared error closer to the optimum for a wide range of different target variables. As our method uses only standardly reported summary statistics, it can be immediately adopted to reduce this widespread bias and improve the reliability of scientific findings in various fields.

Description: This technical reference guide is intended for users of the Education and Labour Market Longitudinal Platform (ELMLP). The data for the products associated with this issue are derived from integrating Postsecondary Student Information System (PSIS) administrative data with other administrative data on earnings and data from the Census of Population long-form. Statistics Canada has derived a series of annual indicators on the labour market outcomes of public postsecondary graduates including median employment income by educational qualification, field of study, Indigenous identity, racialized group, age group and gender for Canada, the provinces and the territories combined. This document has been updated to reflect the 2026 methodology used to produce labour market outcome indicators.

Description: The Canadian Active Living Environments (Can-ALE) project was developed in 2019 to provide a standardized, pan-Canadian indicator of how supportive neighbourhood built environments are for physical activity and active transportation, enabling comparisons across places and over time. Can-ALE 1.0 produced measures for the 2006 and 2016 census years, but it did not include 2011 or 2021. As well, the data and processing steps were not packaged in a fully reproducible format, limiting longitudinal analyses and replication. In this study, the original measure was replicated and extended by developing Can-ALE 2.0, an open-source, reproducible R-based workflow to generate Can-ALE metrics for the 2011, 2016, and 2021 census years.

Description: Previous research has found variability in cancer incidence and cancer-related outcomes according to place of residence. This study examined geographic variability in the incidence and mortality of breast cancer among females in Canada, using data from the 2021 Canadian Cancer Registry (breast cancer incidence) and the Canadian Vital Statistics – Death database (breast cancer mortality). Age-standardized incidence rates (ASIRs) and age-standardized mortality rates (ASMRs) per 100,000 females per year and their rate ratios were calculated, as well as age group-specific and age-standardized stage-specific incidence rates, and examined across provinces and territories, community sizes, and peer groups (i.e., clusters of health regions with similar socioeconomic and demographic characteristics).

Description: Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women in Canada. Breast density substantially influences breast cancer risk and mammography performance. However, OncoSim-Breast, a Canadian microsimulation model representing breast cancer control, including cancer onset, screening, and survival, has not previously explicitly accounted for breast density. This study describes the incorporation of density-specific parameters—prevalence, relative risk of breast cancer, and digital mammography performance (sensitivity and specificity)—using data from five Canadian provinces, into the OncoSim-Breast model. Calibration experiments and internal validations were conducted to ensure the updated OncoSim-Breast model aligned with observed data from the Canadian Cancer Registry.

Description: The study examines the questions of moving out of the parental home and access to homeownership from an intergenerational perspective. The article details the household living arrangements and homeownership status of three generations of Canadians (Millennials, Generation X, and Baby Boomers) when they were aged 25 to 39.

Description: This article provides an integrated summary of recent changes in output, consumer prices, employment, and household finances. It highlights changes in the economic data during the second half of 2025 and into the winter of 2026. The article focuses on how economic conditions have changed as trade tensions between Canada and the United States continue to evolve.

Description: This study uses data from the 2024 Survey on Health Care Access and Experiences – Primary and Specialist Care to analyze the prevalence of having a regular health care provider among immigrants and non-immigrants. Specifically, the study examines differences in access between recent immigrants, established immigrants and non-immigrants, and how these patterns vary by demographic and socioeconomic factors.

Description: Everyone wants to be happy, but just how happy are Canadians? On this episode of the Eh Sayers podcast, join quality of life experts from Statistics Canada and Engage Nova Scotia to explore the importance of quality of life programs and what they tell us about our well-being.

Description: Think your Christmas tree knowledge is top-notch? Time to put it to the test! In this holiday special of Eh Sayers, our colleagues face off in a trivia showdown all about Canada’s Christmas tree industry. Discover which nation first sparked the tradition, how much Canadian Christmas tree farmers earned in 2023, the surprising numbers behind exports and imports, and more festive facts. After listening, you’ll be the go-to expert on Christmas trees at your holiday party!

Description: Police-reported homicide victims and rates per 100,000 population, by geographic region (national, provincial, and CMA).

Description: Canada’s Poverty Reduction Strategy establishes the Official Poverty Line for Canada along with a dashboard of 12 indicators to track progress on poverty reduction for Canadians and their households.

Description: This presentation provides an integrated summary of recent economic developments, highlighting key movements in the economic data during the current trade conflict. It focuses on how economic conditions have changed as trade tensions between Canada the United States continue to unfold.

Description: This infographic presents selected results from the latest update of the "Baby Names Observatory", based on births vital statistics. It presents the top 10 most popular baby names in 2024 for boys and girls, the names within the top 100 that registered the biggest popularity gains between 2023 and 2024, and other trends in baby names.

Description: Canada’s Poverty Reduction Strategy introduced the Official Poverty Line for Canada and a dashboard of 12 indicators to track progress on poverty reduction for Canadians and their households. This infographic presents trend information for Canada's official poverty rate and the associated 12 indicators.

Description: This presentation highlights data and analysis conducted at Statistics Canada that underscores the affordability challenges facing Canadian households during the period of high inflation that followed the COVID-19 pandemic. It draws on recent data from Statistics Canada’s Distribution of Household Economic Accounts, the Survey of Financial Security and the Canadian Social Survey.

Description: Using police-reported data from the 2023 Homicide Survey, this infographic is a visual representation of some of these data. Findings include results at the national, provincial and territorial levels. Also included are findings related to the characteristics of victims as well as the prevalence of gang-related and firearm-related homicides.

Description: The strategies used by cyber attackers are getting more complex. Many of us are inundated with what feels like never-ending phishing emails, scam text messages and fraudulent phone calls. It’s rare to talk to someone who hasn’t experienced some form of a cyber attack. The situation is no different for Canadian businesses. Identity theft, scams, fraud and ransomware are some of the ways bad actors are targeting businesses today. We wanted to know: Is cyber crime on the rise in Canada? What is the relatively new phenomenon of cyber risk insurance? And in what way are consumers affected when a business experiences an security breach? The Canadian Survey of Cyber Security and Cyber Crime has published new data and in this episode, we sat down with Howard Bilodeau, an economist at Statistics Canada to answer our questions about how cyber security is changing for businesses and what it means for the rest of us.

Description: Canada’s population is aging rapidly, with implications for the health care system, including increasing demand for specialist care. However, few studies have examined factors associated with specialist care use. Data from the 2024 Survey on Health Care Access and Experiences – Primary and Specialist Care were used in this study to identify factors associated with specialist care use, difficulty accessing specialist care, and to examine the relationship between access difficulties and unmet health care needs among middle-aged (45 to 64 years) and older (65 years or older) adults in Canada.

Description: We introduce a general framework for constructing master samples that preserve desirable design properties across panels. The core procedure is to order an initial probability sample. Since the final sequence must be robust to a uniform random rotation, we define and minimize an objective that aggregates panel-level performance across all possible circular panels. A final random rotation is applied to ensure design validity. The framework is flexible with respect to the choice of design criteria, such as spatial balance or marginal balance, and can be implemented efficiently using simulated annealing to obtain high-quality approximate solutions. By construction, the approach supports both positive and negative sample coordination for spatially balanced, marginally balanced, and doubly balanced samples. The method’s versatility is demonstrated through three applications: constructing a master sample with spatially balanced panels, marginally balanced panels, and doubly balanced panels.

Description: Combining estimates from independent surveys via inverse-variance weights can lead to negative bias when unknown variances are estimated and the target variable is non-negative and positively skewed. In such cases, strong positive correlations typically arise between the estimators and their corresponding variance estimators, causing standard linear combinations with inverse-variance weights to exhibit negative bias. We introduce a strikingly simple method to reduce bias: replace the standard weight with the ratio of the estimator to the variance estimator. Under a linear model linking the two, we show that the new ratio-weighted estimator is approximately unbiased, whereas the conventional inverse-variance combination exhibits downward bias. Through simulations, we demonstrate that the new method brings both the bias and the mean squared error closer to the optimum for a wide range of different target variables. As our method uses only standardly reported summary statistics, it can be immediately adopted to reduce this widespread bias and improve the reliability of scientific findings in various fields.

Description: This technical reference guide is intended for users of the Education and Labour Market Longitudinal Platform (ELMLP). The data for the products associated with this issue are derived from integrating Postsecondary Student Information System (PSIS) administrative data with other administrative data on earnings and data from the Census of Population long-form. Statistics Canada has derived a series of annual indicators on the labour market outcomes of public postsecondary graduates including median employment income by educational qualification, field of study, Indigenous identity, racialized group, age group and gender for Canada, the provinces and the territories combined. This document has been updated to reflect the 2026 methodology used to produce labour market outcome indicators.

Description: The Canadian Active Living Environments (Can-ALE) project was developed in 2019 to provide a standardized, pan-Canadian indicator of how supportive neighbourhood built environments are for physical activity and active transportation, enabling comparisons across places and over time. Can-ALE 1.0 produced measures for the 2006 and 2016 census years, but it did not include 2011 or 2021. As well, the data and processing steps were not packaged in a fully reproducible format, limiting longitudinal analyses and replication. In this study, the original measure was replicated and extended by developing Can-ALE 2.0, an open-source, reproducible R-based workflow to generate Can-ALE metrics for the 2011, 2016, and 2021 census years.

Description: Previous research has found variability in cancer incidence and cancer-related outcomes according to place of residence. This study examined geographic variability in the incidence and mortality of breast cancer among females in Canada, using data from the 2021 Canadian Cancer Registry (breast cancer incidence) and the Canadian Vital Statistics – Death database (breast cancer mortality). Age-standardized incidence rates (ASIRs) and age-standardized mortality rates (ASMRs) per 100,000 females per year and their rate ratios were calculated, as well as age group-specific and age-standardized stage-specific incidence rates, and examined across provinces and territories, community sizes, and peer groups (i.e., clusters of health regions with similar socioeconomic and demographic characteristics).

Description: Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women in Canada. Breast density substantially influences breast cancer risk and mammography performance. However, OncoSim-Breast, a Canadian microsimulation model representing breast cancer control, including cancer onset, screening, and survival, has not previously explicitly accounted for breast density. This study describes the incorporation of density-specific parameters—prevalence, relative risk of breast cancer, and digital mammography performance (sensitivity and specificity)—using data from five Canadian provinces, into the OncoSim-Breast model. Calibration experiments and internal validations were conducted to ensure the updated OncoSim-Breast model aligned with observed data from the Canadian Cancer Registry.

Description: The study examines the questions of moving out of the parental home and access to homeownership from an intergenerational perspective. The article details the household living arrangements and homeownership status of three generations of Canadians (Millennials, Generation X, and Baby Boomers) when they were aged 25 to 39.

Description: This article provides an integrated summary of recent changes in output, consumer prices, employment, and household finances. It highlights changes in the economic data during the second half of 2025 and into the winter of 2026. The article focuses on how economic conditions have changed as trade tensions between Canada and the United States continue to evolve.

Description: This study uses data from the 2024 Survey on Health Care Access and Experiences – Primary and Specialist Care to analyze the prevalence of having a regular health care provider among immigrants and non-immigrants. Specifically, the study examines differences in access between recent immigrants, established immigrants and non-immigrants, and how these patterns vary by demographic and socioeconomic factors.

Description:

This document of fact sheets provides an early learning profile of Métis, Inuit, and off-reserve First Nations children under the age of six in Canada. The 2006 Aboriginal Children's Survey is used to provide broad indicators of young Aboriginal children's experiences with learning. Data include how they learn about words and traditional activities and who helps them learn. Family characteristics associated with participation in early learning activities are also presented.

Description: This report offers highlights from the 2007 Canada Survey of Giving, Volunteering, and Participating (CSGVP) which was undertaken to better understand how Canadians support individuals and communities on their own or through their involvement with charitable and non-profit organizations. For this survey, thousands of Canadians aged 15 and over were asked how they: gave money and other resources to individuals and to organizations; volunteered time to help others and to enhance their communities; and participated in the practices which help give substance to active citizenship. The results from this survey allow this report to tell a story about who Canada's volunteers and charitable donors are and the ways in which they contribute to our society.

Description:

Beginning in late 2006, the Social and Aboriginal Statistics Division of Statistics Canada embarked on the process of review of questions used in the Census and in surveys to produce data about Aboriginal peoples (North American Indian, Métis and Inuit). This process is essential to ensure that Aboriginal identification questions are valid measures of contemporary Aboriginal identification, in all its complexity. Questions reviewed included the following (from the Census 2B questionnaire):- the Ethnic origin / Aboriginal ancestry question;- the Aboriginal identity question;- the Treaty / Registered Indian question; and- the Indian band / First Nation Membership question.

Additional testing was conducted on Census questions with potential Aboriginal response options: the population group question (also known as visible minorities), and the Religion question. The review process to date has involved two major steps: regional discussions with data users and stakeholders, and qualitative testing. The regional discussions with over 350 users of Aboriginal data across Canada were held in early 2007 to examine the four questions used on the Census and other surveys of Statistics Canada. Data users included National Aboriginal organizations, Aboriginal Provincial and Territorial Organizations, Federal, Provincial and local governments, researchers and Aboriginal service organizations. User feedback showed that main areas of concern were data quality, undercoverage, the wording of questions, and the importance of comparability over time.

Description:

This report summarizes the main issues raised in these meetings. Four questions used to identify Aboriginal people from the Census and surveys were considered in the discussions.Statistics Canada regularly reviews the questions used on the Census and other surveys to ensure that the resulting data are representative of the population. As a first step in the process to review the questions used to produce data about First Nations, Inuit and Métis populations, regional discussions were held with more than 350 users of Aboriginal data in over 40 locations across Canada during the winter, spring and early summer of 2007.

This report summarizes the main issues raised in these meetings. Four questions used to identify Aboriginal people from the Census and surveys were considered in the discussions.

Description:

Immigrants to Canada must face numerous difficulties during their first years in the country, the two most important being to find an appropriate job and language barrier. But does a better knowledge of official languages increase the chances for an immigrant of occupying a high-skilled job, a job in the intended occupation, a job similar to the one they had before immigrating, a job related to their training or field of study, or to have a higher hourly rate?

In an attempt to answer this question, the data from the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada (LSIC) were used. In the LSIC, a cohort of immigrants was interviewed at three points in time being 6 months, 2 years and 4 years after arrival in the country. For this study, we used the information about the job occupied at the time of each interview, as well as the English and French self-assessed spoken ability levels at each of these moments.

Description:

This paper uses three cycles of the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY) to examine whether parental labour market participation and the use of substitute child-care influence the development of the skills needed by pre-school-aged children in order to begin school. The analysis in this paper is based on the arguments that parent-child interaction fosters the development of the skills needed by pre-school-aged children in order to begin school successfully, and that full-time participation in the work force by lone parents (in one-parent families) and by both parents (in dual-parent families) often results in comparatively less time for parent-child interaction than in families with a stay-at-home parent. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine whether reductions in parental time spent with children as a result of work outside the home impact the intellectual development of young children.

The study indicates that parental participation in the labour market has little effect on the school readiness scores of most pre-school-aged children. However, children's school readiness does appear to be influenced by parental labour market participation if the parents exhibit above-average parenting skills and levels of parental education. Children of mothers who display above-average parenting skills and higher levels of education tend to benefit slightly when their mothers do not work outside the home. Likewise, children of fathers with above-average education exhibit slightly higher cognitive outcomes if their fathers work part time.

Although the author finds that there is no association between the number of hours that children spend in child care and their level of school readiness, the study does observe that among pre-school children in substitute child-care, those who come from higher-income families tend to score higher on the school readiness tests than do children from lower-income families. This finding may be attributed to the possibility that children in higher-income families are exposed to a higher quality of substitute child-care, or it may be attributed simply to the advantages of growing up in a family with greater resources.

Description:

The objective of this working paper series is to analyse the comparability of surveys conducted by Statistics Canada on smoking, to highlight the changes in the data among data years and to illustrate their statistical significance. The aim is to clarify any confusion regarding comparability of survey estimates of smoking prevalence and daily cigarette consumption over this period, as well as to provide the user-requested data in a technical but understandable format.

Description:

A comparison of crime rates between Canada and the United States is often sought by the media, researchers, and policy makers. Recognizing this demand, along with the methodological complexities, the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics has undertaken the task of assessing the feasibility of comparing police reported statistics between these two countries. This report compares and contrasts the specific offence definitions, classification, and scoring rules of the Canadian and American Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) surveys. Offences are organized according to the type of survey (aggregate versus incident based) and level of analysis (incident level and accused level). Where applicable, the discussion notes modifications that could allow for reliable cross-national comparisons. The report also briefly discusses the potential of comparing detailed offence characteristics.

Description:

This study investigates the determinants of failure for new Canadian firms. It explores the role that certain factors play in conditioning the likelihood of survival - factors related to industry structure, firm demographics and macroeconomic cycles. It asks whether the determinants of failure are different for new start-ups than for firms that have reached adolescence, and if the magnitude of these differences is economically significant. It examines whether, after controlling for certain influences, failure rates differ across industries and provinces.

Two themes figure prominently in this analysis. The first is the impact that certain industry characteristics - such as average firm size and concentration - have on the entry/exit process, either through their influence on failure costs or on the intensity of competition. The second centres on how the dimensions of failure evolve over time as new firms gain market experience.

Description:

The Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics has prepared a report on the use of remand in Canada. Remand refers to persons who have been charged with an offence and ordered by the court to custody while awaiting a further court appearance. This report uses data from the Adult Correctional Services (ACS) survey to assess the trends in remand admissions, sentence lengths, and average daily counts of remand inmates in provincial/territorial correctional facilities between 1988-89 and 1997-98. Characteristics of remand inmates (e.g., age, gender, marital status, level of education, employment), offences and criminal history were studied using data from the One-Day Snapshot report (a census of inmates on-register in adult correctional facilities on midnight Saturday October 5th 1996). Characteristics and offences of youth on remand in 1997-98 were also examined using data from the Youth Custody and Community Services (YCCS) survey. Trends in the average counts of youth on remand between 1988-89 and 1997-98 are presented using data from the Corrections Key Indicator Report. Appendices include graphs of admissions and average daily counts for each province and territory.