Statistics Canada’s ’By the numbers’ project presents interesting facts compiled to portray Canada’s ethnocultural diversity, its national identity, land and natural environment, and more. Photo Credit: Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada has been telling the country’s story in numbers for more than a century and to mark the sesquicentennial anniversary of Canadian Confederation the federal data agency has prepared a numerical snapshot of Canada.
Statistics Canada’s has compiled interesting facts and numbers to portray the country’s ethnocultural diversity, national identity, land and natural environment.
Did you know that there are 47 million maple tree taps in Canada to collect maple syrup? Or that Canadians bought $9.2 billion worth of beer in 2016? Or that in 2016 Canada exported $25.6 million worth of skates and $395.9 million worth of snowmobiles?
Did you know that Canada has the world’s longest coastline at 243,042 km? And Canada’s Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron, Ontario, holds the title of the world’s largest island in a freshwater lake at 2,765 square km.
Here are some other interesting facts about Canada and its people as the country prepares to celebrate its 150th anniversary, plus many thousands of years of Indigenous history on this land prior to colonization.
In 2011, English was the mother tongue of nearly 58 per cent of the population of Canada (or 19.1 million persons), and French was that of nearly 22 per cent (or 7.2 million persons). As for the language most often spoken at home, English was spoken by 66 per cent of the population and French by 21 per cent.
On the other hand, 6.8 million persons reported a mother tongue other than English or French and 4.2 million reported speaking a language other than English of French most often at home.
By the numbers
17.5 per cent of Canadians reported to be bilingual in 2011.
Over 60 Aboriginal languages, grouped into 12 distinct language families, identified in the 2011 Census of Population.
23 immigrant major language families identified in the 2011 Census of Population.
213,000 people reported an Aboriginal mother tongue in 2011. The Cree languages, Inuktitut and Ojibway were the three most frequently reported Aboriginal mother tongues.
6,390,000 people spoke an immigrant language at home in 2011. The top 10 immigrant languages spoken most often at home were: Punjabi, Chinese (did not specify which dialect), Cantonese, Spanish, Tagalog, Arabic, Mandarin, Italian, Urdu and German.
25,000 people reported using a sign language in 2011.
Consistent with changing immigration patterns, Canada is also a nation of people with diverse religions.
By the numbers
22.1 million people eported they were affiliated with a Christian religion in 2011, accounting for 67.3 per cent of the total population.
2.4 million people identified themselves as Muslim, Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist in 2011, accounting for 7.2 per cent of Canada’s population. More specifically, slightly over 1 million individuals identified themselves as Muslim, representing 3.2 per cent of the nation’s total population. Hindus represented 1.5 per cent, Sikhs 1.4 per cent, and Buddhists 1.1 per cent.
329,500 people identified themselves as Jewish in 2011, accounting for 1 per cent of total population.
7.8 million people who reported that they had no religious affiliation in 2011, accounting for 23.9 per cent of Canada’s population.
Despite this ethnic, linguistic and religious diversity, 90 per cent of Canadians reported feeling a strong sense of belonging to Canada in 2013.
Based on “Canada Day… by the numbers” report by Statistics Canada
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