Chapter 1: The female population in Canada

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Women in the majority

Slightly more than half of all people living in Canada are women or female children. In 2004, there was a total of 16.1 million females in Canada, representing 50.4% of the overall population that year. (Table 1.1)

Table 1.1 Total population, 1921 to 2004, and projections to 2051

The fact that females currently outnumber men is a relatively new phenomenon. Indeed, as recently as the early 1970s women were in the minority in Canada. In 1971, for example, 49.8% of the Canadian population were either women or female children, while the figure was 48.2% in 1931. That females are now in the majority in the Canadian population has occurred largely because mortality gains among women have been greater than those among men, with the result that women live considerably longer, on average, than men. The share of the population accounted for by women, though, reached the current figure in 1986 and has changed little in the past two decades.

The share of the population accounted for by women is also not expected to change dramatically over the course of the next few decades. Statistics Canada has projected¹ that by 2031 women will still make up 50.4% of the total population, the same as today, and that by 2051 the figure will have only increased marginally to 50.5%.

While women make up the majority of the population in Canada, the share of the population accounted for by females is actually relatively small compared with other industrialized societies. Females currently account for 50.4% of all Canadians, whereas the figure is over 51% in countries such as Italy, France, Germany, Japan and the United States, while it is 50.8% in the United Kingdom. The current Canadian figure, though, is closer to that in Denmark (50.6%), Sweden (50.5%), the Netherlands (50.5%) and Australia (50.2%), while it is substantially higher than that in countries such as China and India where women constitute less than half the population. (Chart 1.1)

Chart 1.1 Women as a percentage of the population in Canada and selected other countries

One reason why women in Canada account for a smaller proportion of the population than do their counterparts in other industrialized nations is that while the Canadian population is aging, Canada still has a relatively small senior population compared with these other countries.

Age distribution

As they have done literally from the moment they were born, women born during the baby boom years from the late-1940s to the mid-1960s make up a disproportionate share of the female population in Canada. In 2004, women born during the baby boom era, who currently range in age from their late 30s to their mid-50s, represented almost one in three Canadian females. That year, 31% of all females in Canada were between the ages of 35 and 54. Those in the 35 to 44 age bracket, who made up 16% of the female population, were the single largest ten-year female age cohort, while women aged 45 to 54 made up another 15%. (Table 1.2)

Table 1.2 Population, by age, 2004

At the same time, 44% of all females in Canada are under the age of 35. In 2004, 17% of all females were under the age of 15, while 27% were between the ages of 15 and 34. At the other end of the age spectrum, just over one in four females were either seniors or women in their pre-retirement years. That year, 15% of all females were seniors aged 65 and over, while 11% were aged 55 to 64.

Senior women,² however, constitute the fastest growing segment of the female population. In 2004, there were 2.3 million women in Canada aged 65 and over who made up 15% of the total female population. This was up from 11% in 1981 and just 5% in 1921. (Chart 1.2)

Chart 1.2  Senior women as a percentage of the female population, 1921 to 2051 ¹

The share of the female population accounted for by senior women is also expected to continue to rise during the next several decades. Statistics Canada has projected that by 2016 18% of all women will be aged 65 and over and that by 2041 27% of all women will be seniors.

In fact, women constitute a particularly large segment of the senior population in Canada. In 2004, women made up 57% of all Canadians aged 65 and over, whereas they represented 51% of those aged 55 to 64 and 50% or less of women in all other age ranges.

Women account for particularly large shares of the oldest segments of the senior population. In 2004, women made up 69% of all persons aged 85 and older and 59% of those aged 75 to 84, compared with 53% of people aged 65 to 74.

The fact that women make up such a disproportionate share of the very oldest segments of the population has major implications. As discussed in greater detail in Chapter 11, those aged 85 and over are the fastest growing segment of the senior population. They also tend to be the most vulnerable to serious health problems, as well as the most likely to experience socio-economic difficulties.

Women in the provinces and territories

Women generally make up larger shares of the population in the eastern provinces compared with the rest of the country. In 2004, females made up around 51% of all residents in each of the four Atlantic Provinces, as well as in both Ontario and Quebec. In contrast, the figure was closer to 50% in each of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and British Columbia, while women were in the minority in Alberta where they made up only 49.5% of the population that year. (Table 1.3)

Table 1.3 Population, by province and territory, 2004

Women also make up less than half the population in the territories. In 2004, about 48% of all people in both the Northwest Territories and Nunavut were female, while the figure was 49.7% in the Yukon.

Urban/rural distribution

The large majority of both women and men in Canada live in urban areas. In 2001, 80% of all women lived in an area classified as urban. In fact, the majority of women, 64%, lived in a census metropolitan area (CMA), that is, an urban area with a population of at least 100,000. At the same time, 13% of all females lived in an urban area with a population between 10,000 and 99,999, while 3% lived in other urban areas. (Table 1.4)

Table 1.4 Urban/rural distribution of the female and male population, 2001

While the majority of the female population are urban residents, one in five women lives in a rural area. In 2001, 20% of all females lived in an area considered to be rural. The largest share of these women, 17% that year, were classified as living in a rural nonfarm area, while 2% were rural farm dwellers.

Women represent a relatively large share of the population in urban areas, while they tend to be under-represented in rural communities. In 2001, women made up over 51% of all those living in urban areas, whereas they represented 49% of the rural nonfarm population, and only 47% of that classified as rural farm.

Women also account for more than half the population in most of the largest census metropolitan areas in Canada. In 2004, women made up around 51% of residents of each of Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Ottawa-Gatineau, and Hamilton. The exceptions to this pattern were Calgary and Edmonton, where women represented slightly less than half the population that year. (Chart 1.3)

Chart 1.3 Females as a percentage of the population in selected census metropolitan areas, 2004

Women make up the largest share of the population in Victoria. In 2004, just under 52% of all Victoria residents were female. This reflects, in large part, the fact that seniors, of whom women make up a disproportionate share, constitute a relatively large proportion of Victoria residents. Women also make up particularly large shares of the population in both Quebec City and Halifax, as well as that in St. Catharines-Niagara and London.

Residential mobility

As with their male counterparts, the female population in Canada is very mobile. In the five years between 1996 and 2001, 42% of all women aged 15 and over made at least one residential move, about the same figure as for men. (Table 1.5)

Table 1.5 Proportion of the female and male population who made a residential move within the past five years, 2001

The majority of women who do move, however, only change residences within the same community. Between 1996 and 2001, 22% of all women aged 15 and over changed their place of residence within their community at least once. At the same time, 16% of all women moved from one community to another: 13% moved within the same province, while 3% moved from one province to another. Again, though, these figures were almost exactly the same as those for men.

More foreign-born women

One of the most significant aspects of the female population in Canada in recent years has been the large flow of new immigrants into the country.³ Indeed, almost one in five females currently living in Canada was born outside the country. Overall, there were a total of 2.8 million foreign-born females living in Canada in 2001. Together, they made up 19% of the country’s total female population that year. (Chart 1.4)

Chart 1.4 Foreign-born females as a percentage of the total female population, 1921 to 2001

The share of the female population accounted for by those born outside Canada, in fact, is currently the largest it has been in more than half a century. In 2001, foreignborn females represented 19% of all women living in Canada, up from 16% in 1991 and 14% in 1951. The share of the female population accounted for by those born outside the country, though, is still lower than it was in the 1920s and 1930s when over 20% of the female population in Canada was born outside the country. Females also make up the majority of the foreign-born population in Canada. In 2001, 51.9% of all people born outside the country were female.

Most females immigrating to Canada come with their family, either as a family class immigrant themselves or as the spouse or dependant of an economic immigrant. At the same time, just over one in 10 female immigrants arrived here as an economic-class immigrant, while another 10% were admitted as refugees.

The number of women admitted to Canada as refugees, though, has declined slightly in recent years. In 2003, close to 11,600 female refugees were admitted to Canada, down from 13,000 in 2001 and 14,000 in 2000. The current number of female refugees admitted to the country, however, is higher than in the late 1990s when an average of fewer than 11,000 females were admitted to Canada as refugees each year.

The recent increase in the size of the foreign-born female population living in Canada is a reflection of the fact, at least in part, that immigration levels have been relatively high over the past decade. Indeed, the largest share of the foreign-born female population arrived here in the past decade. In 2001, there were almost 1 million foreignborn females living in Canada who had arrived in the country between 1991 and 2001. These recent arrivals made up 34% of all foreign-born females living in Canada that year.

They also made up 6% of the total female population in Canada that year. There has been an even more dramatic shift in the number of foreign-born females coming from different regions of the world in recent years. Well over half (58%) of all female immigrants living in Canada in 2001 who arrived here in the 1990s, for example, came from Asia, including the Middle East, whereas this was the case for just 3% of those who arrived prior to 1961. There have also been substantial increases in the number of female immigrants coming from Africa as well from both the Caribbean and Central and South America, whereas the numbers from traditional source countries such as the United Kingdom and other European countries has declined.

Women in the visible minority community

One result of the changing source countries of immigrants to Canada is that there has also been an increase in the number of women who are members of a visible minority community.⁴ In 2001, over 2 million women, 14% of the total female population, identified themselves as being members of a visible minority. (Table 1.6)

The female visible minority population in Canada, in fact, has grown at a much faster rate than the number of women not in a visible minority in recent years. Between 1996 and 2001, for example, the number of visible minority females increased by 25%, whereas the non-visible minority female population rose by only 1%. Indeed, the growth in the number of visible minority women in the past five years accounted for threequarters of the growth in the overall female population in Canada in this period. As a result of this trend, the share of the total female population in Canada accounted for by those in a visible minority rose from 6% in 1986 and 11% in 1996 to 14% in 2001.

The largest number of visible minority women in Canada are Chinese. In 2001, there were over a half million Chinese women in Canada who made up over a quarter of the total female visible minority population. In fact, Chinese women represented almost 4% of all women in Canada that year. At the same time, there were around 450,000 South Asian women, 350,000 Black women, and 175,000 Filipinas. There were also over 100,000 Latin American and Southeast Asian women, while there were smaller numbers of Arab (89,000), West Asian (51,000), Korean (52,000) and Japanese (40,000) women living in Canada. (Table 1.6).

Table 1.6 Population in the visible minority community, 2001

The majority of visible minority females in Canada live in either Ontario or British Columbia. In 2001, 54% of the female visible minority population in Canada lived in Ontario, while 21% resided in British Columbia. That year, females in a visible minority made up 22% of the overall female population of British Columbia and 19% of that of Ontario.

As well, within Ontario and British Columbia, visible minority women are centered largely in Toronto and Vancouver. Indeed, in 2001, 62% of all females in a visible minority in Canada resided in one of these two metropolitan areas, whereas Toronto and Vancouver accounted for only 16% of the total non-visible minority female population of Canada. That year, 37% of all female residents of both cities were part of a visible minority.

Aboriginal women

A substantial number of women in Canada identify with the Aboriginal population.⁵ In 2001, just under a half million women, 3% of the total female population, reported they were one of North American Indian, Métis, or Inuit. As with the overall population, women make up the slight majority of those identifying with the Aboriginal population. That year, females made up 51% of the total Aboriginal identity population. (Table 1.7)

Table 1.7 Aboriginal identity population, 2001

The female Aboriginal population in Canada is growing substantially faster than the overall population. The number of females who identified themselves as being North American Indian, Métis or Inuit in 2001, was 22% higher than the figure in 1996. In contrast, the non-Aboriginal female population grew by only 3% in the same time period. As a result of this trend, females who identified themselves as Aboriginal made up 3.3% of the total female population in 2001, up from 2.8% five years earlier. Demographic trends such as natural increase accounted for about half the increase in the female Aboriginal population in this period, while other variables such as the fact that were fewer incompletely enumerated reserves, as well as an increase in the tendency for women to identify as Aboriginal, also played a part.

The largest number of women identifying with the Aboriginal population are North American Indian. In 2001, 314,000 females, 63% of the total female Aboriginal identity population, were North American Indian, while 29% were Métis, and 5% were Inuit.

Aboriginal people make up a largest share of the provincial population in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. In 2001, 14% of all female residents of both provinces identified themselves as Aboriginal, while in the remaining provinces the figure ranged from 5% in Alberta to just over 1% in both Quebec and Prince Edward Island. At the same time, Aboriginal people made up 87% of female residents of Nunavut, as well as 52% of those in the Northwest Territories and 24% of those in the Yukon.

The female Aboriginal population is also relatively young. In 2001, 32% of Aboriginal females were less than 15 years of age, compared with 19% of their non- Aboriginal counterparts. As a result, female Aboriginal children accounted for 6% of all Canadian girls under the age of 15, whereas Aboriginals made up only 3% of the total female population, At the same time, young women aged 15-24 made up 17% of the Aboriginal population, compared with 13% of that of non-Aboriginals.

Language characteristics of women

English or French are the mother tongue of the majority of Canadian women, although a growing number have a mother tongue other than one of the official languages. In 2001, 59% of the female population reported that English was their mother tongue, that is, the language first learned and still understood, while 23% indicated that French was their mother tongue. At the same time, though, over two and a half million female Canadians, 18% of the total population, had a mother tongue other than English or French. (Table 1.8)

Table 1.8 Mother tongue of the female and male population, 2001

Chinese was the language reported most often by females indicating that they had a mother tongue other than English or French. In 2001, almost 450,000 women, 3% of the total female population, listed Chinese as their mother tongue, while Italian and German were each reported by another 2%. At the same time, Punjabi, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Polish, Tagalog, and Ukrainian were each reported by close to 1% of the overall female population. As well, close to 1% of all females listed an Aboriginal language as their mother tongue. (Chart 1.5)

Chart 1.5 Percentage of the female population with selected mother tongues, 2001

While a growing number of women have a mother tongue other than English or French, almost all women can speak one or both of Canada’s official languages. In 2001, 81% of Canadian women could carry on a conversation in either English or French only, while 17% were bilingual. (Table 1.9)

Table 1.9 Knowledge of official languages of the female and male population, 2001

A small proportion of women, however, cannot speak either English or French. In 2001, 2% of women could not speak either official language. Women, in fact, make up a disproportionate share of the population unable to speak at least one official language. That year, females made up 61% of all those who reported they could not carry on a conversation in either English or French. This reflects, in part, the fact that older persons are much more likely than their younger counterparts not to be able to speak an official language, and women make up the majority of people in older age ranges.

While almost all Canadian women can speak one of the two official languages, a substantial number live in a household in which the primary language is not English or French. In 2001, one in 10 (10%) women spoke a language other than English or French in their homes. This figure, however, was almost the same as that for men. (Table 1.10)

Table 1.10 Home language of the female and male population, 2001

Again, Chinese was the most common language spoken at home by Canadian women other than English or French. In 2001, over 350,000 women spoke Chinese most often at home, while 100,000 spoke Italian and another 100,000 spoke Punjabi. In addition, over 50,000 Canadian females spoke one of Arabic, Tagalog, Portuguese, Polish, German, Vietnamese, or Spanish.⁶

Religious affiliation of women

The large majority of women report some kind of religious affiliation. In 2001, 84% of all women aged 15 and over reported they were affiliated with some religious group. That year, 41% said they were Roman Catholic, while 25% reported they were affiliated with one of the Protestant denominations. At the same time, those reporting they were one of Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, or Sikh, or were affiliated with an Eastern Orthodox religion, made up a total of 5% of the overall adult female population. (Table 1.11)

Table 1.11 Religious affiliation of women and men aged 15 and over, 2003

Women are generally more likely than men to report a religious affiliation. In 2001, 84% of women, versus 78% of men, said they were affiliated with some religion. In contrast, women were less likely than men, 16% compared with 22%, not to report any religious affiliation.

Women are also more likely than their male counterparts to attend religious functions. In 2003, 51% of all women aged 15 and over, versus 43% of their male counterparts, indicated they attended religious activities at least a few times a year. Women are especially more likely than men to attend religious activities on a regular basis. That year, 21% of women aged 15 and over attended church or other religious activity at least once a week, compared with only 16% of men. (Table 1.12)

Table 1.12 Percentage of women and men aged 15 and over attending religious activities, 2003

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Notes

1. Projections are based on an assumption of medium growth in the population.
2. The senior female population is discussed in more detail in Chapter 11.
3. The immigrant female population is discussed in more detail in Chapter 9.
4. Females in a visible minority are discussed in more detail in Chapter 10.
5. The female Aboriginal population is discussed in more detail in Chapter 8.
6. Source: Statistics Canada, 2001 Census of Canada.