Demographics

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• Age distribution and median age
• Mobility

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Age distribution and median age

Table 1
Age distribution and median age of population, by Aboriginal identity, Canada, 2011
Table summary
This table displays the results of Age distribution and median age of population Aboriginal identity population, First Nations, Métis , Inuit and Non-Aboriginal identity population, calculated using percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).

	Aboriginal identity population	First Nations	Métis	Inuit	Non-Aboriginal identity population
	percent
All age groups	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
0-14 years	28.0	30.4	23.1	33.9	16.5
15-24 years	18.2	18.4	17.7	20.1	12.9
25-64 years	47.9	45.7	52.6	41.9	56.3
65 years and older	5.9	5.5	6.6	4.1	14.2
Median age in years	28	26	31	23	41
Notes: The median age is the age where exactly one-half of the population is older and the other half is younger. Excludes data for one or more incompletely enumerated Indian reserves or Indian settlements. The three Aboriginal groups are based on the population reporting a single identity of 'First Nations,' 'Métis,' or 'Inuit.' Source: Statistics Canada, National Household Survey, 2011.

The Aboriginal population is considerably younger than the non-Aboriginal population

The median age was much lower for the Aboriginal population than for the non-Aboriginal population. This was due to higher fertility rates and shorter life expectancy. First Nations people and Inuit tend to have higher fertility rates than the non-Aboriginal population, while Métis have a slightly higher fertility rate than the non-Aboriginal population.

In 2011, the median age of the Aboriginal population was 28 years, 13 years younger than the median of 41 years for the non-Aboriginal population. Across the Aboriginal identity groups there was a variation of nearly 10 years between the median ages. Inuit were the youngest of the three Aboriginal groups, with a median age of 23 years while the Métis population had a median age of 31 years. First Nations people fell in between with a median age of 26 years.

For additional information, see the table Age distribution and median age for selected Aboriginal identity categories, Canada, 2011 and see the document Aboriginal Peoples in Canada: First Nations People, Métis and Inuit, 2011 National Household Survey.

Mobility

Description for Chart 7

Aboriginal people slightly more likely to move than non-Aboriginal people

The vast majority of Aboriginal people (84%) lived at the same address at the time of the 2011 National Household Survey (NHS) as they did one year earlier, roughly the same proportion as for non-Aboriginal people (88%). In the year preceding the 2011 NHS, 16% of Aboriginal people had moved, compared with 12% of the non-Aboriginal population.

More than half (57%) of Aboriginal people 5 years of age and older lived at the same address at the time of the 2011 NHS as they did five years before, a somewhat lower proportion than that observed for their non-Aboriginal counterparts (61%).

In the five years preceding the 2011 NHS, 43% of Aboriginal people had moved, compared with 38% of the non-Aboriginal population. For additional information, see the NHS Aboriginal Population Profile, Canada, 2011.