Statistics Canada
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2007
Archived Content
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Socio-economic information
Data for the Socio-economic Information module are divided into the categories below and are presented along with key highlights. Where possible, they are presented back until the early 1980s. Data are presented for different spatial levels: the nation, the provinces and territories and drainage areas, 1 which are particularly useful for analyzing how human activities may affect water. The level of spatial aggregation offered depends on the characteristics of the source data.
Land cover
Land cover describes the physical features found on the surface of the land and describes the type of environment at a particular location. It is a determinant of many processes related to trends in the environmental sustainability indicators, including soil erosion, habitat, carbon sequestration and others.
Canada’s territory is vast and varied, ranging from the mountains and prairies of the west to the rivers and lowlands of the east and the tundra of the north (map 1 ). In total, the nation comprises some 10 million square kilometres (table 1 ).
Forests cover 38% of Canada’s land mass. Barren areas and areas with low vegetation cover another 26% of the total, while shrubland and cropland comprise 10% and 7% respectively. Disturbance areas, snow and ice and other land cover areas account for the remainder (table 1 ). Summary data on land cover are presented below. The map and table provide estimates of land cover types for both major drainage areas and sub-drainage areas.
A very small proportion of Canada’s total land area is devoted to urban uses. However this area has grown very rapidly. Between 1971 and 2001, urban areas in Canada grew by 15 thousand square kilometres, an increase of 96% (chart 1 ).
Table
Population
Population characteristics influence the pressures that Canadians place on the environment. For example, with growing numbers of people living in and around urban areas, the potential for impacts on local and regional air and surface water quality are multipled.
Population size, distribution and density partly determine the impacts that human activities have on the environment. Between 1980 and 2006, Canada’s population grew by 33%, from 24.5 million to 32.6 million people (table 2 ).
Canada, with 3.5 people per square kilometre, has one of the lowest population densities in the world (table 3 ); however, Canadians increasingly live in urban centres, most of which are located in a relatively narrow strip along the Canada-U.S. border. This has had consequences for urban air quality. From 1981 to 2006, urban populations increased by 38% while rural populations increased by 6% (chart 3 ).
Aquatic ecosystems in drainage areas where populations are highly concentrated may also experience increased stress from wastewater discharges and other uses. In 2006, 63% of Canadians lived in the St. Lawrence major drainage area, whose waters feed into the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River (table 4 ). Population densities in the drainage area are among the highest in Canada (table 5 ).
Population estimates and basic population characteristics from the Census of Population are presented below by province and territory and for sub-drainage areas across Canada.
Tables
Health
Canadians largely think of themselves as healthy people: compared with people in most other countries, we live longer and suffer from fewer chronic illnesses and disabilities as we age. 2 Life expectancy at birth stood at 80.2 years in 2004 (table 13 ), almost two years higher than the OECD average, 3 and the longest it has ever been.
Human health is influenced by many interacting factors such as age, sex, place of residence, and socio-economic status, all of which can have a notable impact on well-being. Individual behaviours, genetics and environmental factors, such as temperature extremes and air or water pollution can also have an impact on health. Air pollution can aggravate respiratory conditions, especially for those suffering from lung infections, bronchitis, emphysema and asthma.
In 2005, 8% of Canadians over the age of 12 had been diagnosed with asthma (table 10 ). In the same year, 32% of Canadian households were aware of poor air quality advisories in their area. Of these households, 39% made changes to their activity or routine because of the advisory (table 14 ).
Tables
Gross domestic product, employment and international trade
The environment is an essential backdrop for economic activity. Not only do we extract raw materials and energy from it, but the environment also serves as a repository for the wastes produced by economic activity. Growth in economic activity brings benefits in the form of increased income, but can also lead to increased pressure on the environment.
Gross output, which measures the total value of production, reached $2.5 trillion in 2004 (table 20 ). An alternate, more commonly used measure of economic output—real gross domestic product (GDP)—measures the unduplicated value of all goods and services produced in Canada corrected for inflation. Real GDP increased by 98% from 1981 to 2006 (table 18 ).
The structure of the economy and distribution of activities across the country help to explain trends in the indicators both nationally and regionally. Each industry has different impacts in terms of water usage, emission of pollutants and greenhouse gases. Service industries (trade, transportation, travel and communications) made up just over two-thirds of Canada’s GDP in 2006; goods-producing industries, (manufacturing, construction and resource industries) accounted for the remainder (table 19 ).
Energy, industrial goods such as metal ores, metals, chemicals and fertilizers, forestry and agricultural products account for an important share of Canada’s exports. Boosted by recent strength in commodity markets, the proportion of these goods in total exports rose to 54% in 2006, with energy leading the way (table 23 ).
The tables below provide basic information about Canada’s economy—gross output, gross domestic product, labour force characteristics and international trade.
Tables
Energy
Few other activities are as important to the economy as the production and consumption of energy. At the same time, these activities have a wide range of environmental impacts. Effects include emissions of greenhouse gases and airborne contaminants such as nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides and particulate matter, and the disruption of rivers and lakes for hydroelectric power generation and for cooling purposes at thermal generating stations.
From 1981 to 2005, primary energy production doubled to 16.6 million terajoules, largely as a result of increases in the production of natural gas and crude oil. Primary electricity production (from hydro and nuclear sources) increased 48% (table 24 ). In 2006, 60% of electric power was generated from hydro power, 16% from nuclear sources, while the remainder was produced using fossil fuels through conventional steam and combustion generation (chart 9 ).
Total energy use increased 23% from 1990 to 2002 to 10.3 million terajoules, with the business sector responsible for the largest part of the increase. The electric power generation, transmission and distribution industry accounted for 22% of energy usage for the business sector, followed by the oil and gas extraction industry (14%) and the transportation industries 4 (12%) (table 29 ).
In 2002, four industry groups including manufacturing, utilities, mining and oil and gas extraction, and transportation and warehousing, accounted for over 73% of total industrial energy use. 5 Using a measure of energy use per unit of real gross output to calculate the intensity of energy use, two of these industries improved their performance—by using less energy for each unit of output. In 2002, the manufacturing industry used 33% less energy per unit of real gross output compared with 1990. The transportation and warehousing industry decreased its use of energy per unit of real gross output by 15% over the same period (chart 10 ). However, because real gross output increased considerably between 1990 and 2002, absolute energy use increased over the period for each of these four industries (chart 11 ), despite the downward trend in energy use per unit of real gross output for the manufacturing and transportation industries.
Households contribute to air and greenhouse gas emissions through the use of electric power, home heating fuels and gasoline and diesel. The household sector uses close to a fifth of the energy consumed in Canada (table 29 ).
The type of energy used by households for home heating has changed over the last several decades. Between 1981 and 2003, the proportion of households heating their homes with oil fell from 34% to 13%. Meanwhile, the proportion of households heating their homes with natural gas rose from 42% to 50%, while the proportion heating with electricity rose from 21% to 33% (chart 13 ). Compared to oil, heating with natural gas or electricity (when produced with low emission technologies such as nuclear and hydro power) produces fewer greenhouse gas emissions 6 and air pollutants. 7
After energy use in the home, transportation is the biggest contributor to households’ demand for energy (table 29 ). It is also the largest contributor to households’ greenhouse gas emissions (table 33 ). Between 1990 and 2005, Canadians use of gasoline and diesel fuel increased significantly. In 2005, the volume of gasoline sold at the pump decreased by 1% from the previous year, the first decline in a decade. However, sales increased by 23% over 1990, reaching 36.2 billion litres. Retail pump sales of diesel increased 52% over the same period, reaching 4.6 billion litres (table 32 ).
Energy is also used by households to run a variety of other devices, including small gasoline engines that power equipment such as lawnmowers. These emit relatively high amounts of pollutants that can adversely affect air quality. In one year, the average gasoline-powered lawnmower emits as much PM2.5 as an average passenger car travelling about 3,300 km. 8 In 2006, an estimated 67% of households owned a gasoline-powered lawnmower, 21% a snowblower and 5% a leafblower (table 35 ).
Tables
Transportation
Transportation keeps the economy moving by distributing goods and linking people in different communities and countries. However, transportation also contributes to environmental stresses, in part through the release of pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions.
Driving private vehicles remains the preferred means of personal transportation. In 2006, over 20.1 million road motor vehicles were registered for use in Canada (table 36 ). Vehicle choice has an important impact on air pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions. In general, cars are more fuel-efficient than larger SUVs, trucks and vans. In 2006, cars accounted for half (50%) of the total kilometres driven by light vehicles, 9 followed by pickups (20%), vans (18%), SUVs (9%) and station wagons (3%) (table 37 ).
Choosing to drive less contributes to a healthier environment. In 2006, 73% of Canadians working outside the home travelled to work by motor vehicle, 14% walked or cycled and 10% used public transit during warmer months. During colder months, the proportion of commuters who travelled by car increased to 81% (table 38 ).
In Canada, the vast majority of goods are transported by water, rail and road. While freight transport has increased for all three modes, the trucking industry in particular has seen a dramatic rise, caused in part by the advent of just-in-time delivery. Since 1990, freight carried by the for-hire trucking industry increased 76%, from 174 million tonnes to 306 million tonnes in 2004 (chart 14 ).
Tables
Agriculture
Agricultural activity
Over the past several decades, Canadian crop and livestock operations have grown considerably, becoming larger and more specialized. Between 1981 and 2006, the number of farms decreased 28% (table 47 ), while cropland areas increased 16% (table 51 ). Farms have been getting larger. The average farm in 2006 was 3.0 square kilometres, compared with 2.1 square kilometres two and a half decades earlier (table 49 ).
Agricultural activities have the potential to impact the environment. Agricultural fertilizer use and improper manure management have been linked to high concentrations of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus in some water bodies. 10 Pesticides, used to control weeds, insects and other pests, can contaminate water through runoff and infiltration into groundwater and can potentially harm non-target organisms. Effects vary depending on the chemical used along with the level and duration of exposure.
From 1981 to 2006, real farm business expenditures on chemical products such as herbicides, insecticides and fungicides increased 121% (table 56 ), while spending on fertilizers increased 54% (table 58 ). Over the same period, fertilized areas increased 37% to 253,480 square kilometres, or 71% of the total area under crops (table 51 and table 59 ).
Some agricultural activities also contribute to emissions of methane and nitrous oxide, both potent greenhouse gases. The digestive systems of ruminants—including cattle—produce methane, which is a greenhouse gas. Methane is also produced when manure is stored under anaerobic conditions. Farmers had 15.8 million cattle and calves on agricultural operations in 2006 (table 54 ).
In 2001, cattle and other livestock produced 177.5 million tonnes of manure, with the largest amounts produced in drainage areas in southern Alberta, Ontario and Quebec (table 81 ).
The tables below include annual data on livestock and crop production, as well as data from the Census of Agriculture, presented both by province and by drainage area. These variables detail several aspects of farm practices potentially related to trends in the environmental sustainability indicators for air quality and, especially, water quality.
Tables
Agricultural activity by drainage area
Tables
Environmental management
Despite national efforts to protect the environment and reduce emissions of pollutants and wastes, industry is still a major source of greenhouse gas emissions and has an impact on air and water quality. Recognizing their impact on the environment, many firms have made significant efforts to invest in environmental protection.
Capital expenditures on environmental protection increased from $1,734 million in 1998 to $2,918 million in 2004. The petroleum and coal products industry contributed almost a third (32%) of the total expenditures on environmental protection in 2004, followed by the oil and gas extraction industry (19%) and the electric power generation industry (10%). End-of-pipe pollution abatement and pollution prevention processes accounted for more than three quarters of the total share of expenditures (table 82 ).
Operating expenditures on environmental protection rose from $2,990 million in 1998 to $3,836 million in 2004. Major contributors included the oil and gas extraction (16%); primary metals (15%); and pulp, paper, and paperboard mills (11%) industries (table 83 ).
Solid waste potentially contributes to changes in all three environmental sustainability indicators. For example, decomposing materials in landfills produce methane and liquid contaminants can sometimes leach into surrounding groundwater. Recycling and modern landfill technologies can reduce some of these impacts.
From 2002 to 2004, waste disposal increased 5% to 25.3 million tonnes. At the same time, waste diversion increased 18%, with 7.9 million tonnes of waste prepared for recycling in 2004, up from 6.6 million tonnes in 2002 (table 84 ).
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