The Well-Being of Canada's Young Children - Government of Canada Report 2008

Chapter 2 — Who Are Canada's Young Children?

…The share of young children as a proportion of the Canadian population is declining

According to the 2006 Census there were 2,034,805 children from birth to 5 years of age, representing 6.4% of the total Canadian population.⁵ This is a decline from the 2001 Census, where young children represented 6.9% of the Canadian population.

For young children in Canada, there were more males (51%) than females (49%). This is in contrast to the overall Canadian population where females outnumbered males (51% to 49%).⁶

…The majority of Canada's young children continue to live in urban centres

In 2004/05, 89% of Canada's young children lived in urban centres.

Text description of Figure 1

…Over 85% of young children live in two-parent families

In 2004/05, the number of young children living in two-parent families declined slightly to 87.9% from 88.2% in 2002/03, but remained higher than 1998/99 (86%) and 2001/02 (86.1%).

…A growing number of young children have at least one parent who was born outside Canada

In 2004/2005, 27.1% of young children had at least one parent who was not born in Canada. This represents a steady increase from 26.7% of young children in 2002/03, 24.3% in 2000/01 and 23% in 1998/99. Among children living in two-parent families, 28.6% had at least one parent born outside Canada. For children living in single-parent families, 16% had a parent born outside Canada.

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• ⁵ Statistics Canada. Custom tabulation, 2006 Census – 100% data. ^{Click to return to reference}
• ⁶ Ibid. ^{Click to return to reference}