Glossary

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Age:
Age at last birthday.

Baby-boom:
The period following World War II, 1946 to 1965, marked by an important increase in fertility rates and in the absolute
number of births.

Census agglomeration:
Area formed by one or more adjacent municipalities centred on a large urban area (urban core). A census agglomeration
must have an urban core with a population of at least 10,000, without being a census metropolitan area.

Census coverage:

• Undercoverage:
  Number of persons not enumerated in a census (who were intended to have been enumerated)

• Net undercoverage:
  Difference between undercoverage and overcoverage.

Overcoverage:
Number of persons who should not have been counted in the census or who were counted more than once.

Census metropolitan area (CMA):
Area consisting of one or more neighbouring municipalities situated around a major urban core. A census metropolitan
area must have a total population of at least 100,000 of which 50,000 or more live in the urban core.

Cohort:
Represents a group of persons who have experienced a specific demographic event during a given period which can be a year. For example, the married cohort of 1966 consists of the number of persons who married in 1966. Persons born within a specific year could be referred to as a generation.

Demographic dependency ratio:
The ratio of the population outside the working-age population, i.e. persons under 15 or 65 years and over, to the workingage population (15 to 64 years).

Generation:
If not otherwise specified, refers here to all persons born in a given year, i.e. between January 1st and December 31st.

Infant mortality:
Mortality of children less than a year old.

• Post neonatal mortality:
  Mortality between the ages of one month and one year. It is a part of infant mortality.

• Neonatal mortality:
  Mortality in the first month after birth. It is a part of infant mortality.

• Early neonatal mortality:
  Mortality in the first week after birth. It is a part of infant mortality.

Intensity:
Frequency of occurrence of an event among members of a given cohort.

International migration:
Movement of population between Canada and a foreign country which involves a permanent change in residence.

• Immigrant:
  Person who has been permitted by immigration authorities to live in Canada permanently.

• Emigrant:
  Person who leaves Canada to settle in another country.

Interprovincial migration:
Movement from one province to another involving a permanent change in residence. A person who takes up residence in another province is an out-migrant with reference to the province of origin and an in-migrant with reference to the province of destination.

Life expectancy:
A statistical measure derived from the life table indicating the average number of years of life remaining for a person at a specific age x, if that person would experience during his life the age-specific mortality rates observed in a given year (eo refers to life expectancy at birth).

Life table:
A description of the extinction, age by age, of a hypothetical cohort according to the mortality observed a given year.

Mean age:
The mean age of a population is the average age of all its members.

Median age:
The median age is an age “x”, such that exactly one-half of the population is older than “x” and the other half is younger than “x”.

Metropolitan influenced zone:
Region formed by municipalities that are not part of a census agglomeration or a census metropolitan area but are subject to their influence, as measured by the percentage of persons who commute to work between their municipality of residence and the urban core of a census metropolitan area or a census agglomeration. Metropolitan influenced zones may be strong, moderate, low or absent depending on the percentage of residents who commute to work in the urban core of a census metropolitan area or a census agglomeration.

Natural increase:
Excess of births over deaths.

Net migration:
Difference between immigration and emigration or in-migration and out-migration for a given area and period of time.

Non-permanent residents:
Persons from another country who had an employment authorization, a student authorization, or a Minister’s permit, or who were refugees claimants, and family members living with them.

Population growth:
A change, either positive or negative, in population size over a given period.

Population pyramid:
Bar chart that shows the distribution of a population by age and sex.

Rate:
The frequency of demographic events (births, deaths, migration, etc.) in a population in a specified period, generally a year, taking the mean of the population for that period. Crude rates are rates computed for an entire population. Specific rates are rates computed for a particular subgroup – usually the population at risk of having the event occur. Thus, rates can be age-specific, sex-specific, etc. A rate is age-standardized (or age-adjusted) when it results from the sum of age-specific rates, weighted on the basis of a reference population. Standardized rates are mainly used to compare populations with different age structures. They show what the frequency of an event in each of the compared populations would be if those populations had an identical age structure.

Ratio:
The relation of one population subgroup to another subgroup in the same population; that is, one subgroup divided by another.

Replacement level:
Mean number of births per woman necessary to assure the long-term replacement of a population for a given mortality level, but not migration. Currently, the replacement level for Canadians is around 2.1 children per woman.

Residual:
Difference between population growth as measured by population estimates of two consecutive years and the sum of the components. This difference results from the distribution of the closure error between years within the quinquennial period.

Sex ratio:
Ratio of males to females in a given population. It is usually expressed as the number of males per 100 females.

Survival ratio:
Probability of a survivor of exact age x to survive at least to age x+a. It is the complement to 1 of the probability of dying.

Tempo:
Distribution over time, within the cohort, of the demographic events corresponding to the investigated phenomenon.

Total rate:
Sum of age-specific rates during a period. One of the most frequently used rates.

• Total fertility rate:
  The sum of single year age-specific fertility rates during a given year. It indicates the average number of children that a woman would have if the current age-specific fertility rates prevail over her reproductive period.

• Total divorce rate:
  Proportion of marriages that finish in divorce before the 25th anniversary according to the divorce conditions of that year. It is a result of the sum of the divorce rates by length of marriage expressed per 10,000.

• Total first marriage:
  Proportion of males or females marrying before their 50th birthday according to nuptiality conditions in a given year. It is a result of the sum of the rates by age at first marriage.

Visible minority:
Refers to the visible minority group to which a person belongs. The Employment Equity Act defines visible minorities as “persons, other than Aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour.”

Vital Statistics:
Includes all the demographic events (that is to say births, deaths, marriages and divorces) for which there exists a legal requirement to inform the Provincial or Territorial Registrar’s Office.