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

Accessible Figures

Figure 1

Figure 1: Percentage of Children from Birth to 5 Years of Age by Place or Residence, 1998/99 - 2004/05
	1998/99	2000/01	2002/03	2004/05
Source: National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, Cycles 3 (1998/99) through 6 (2004/05).
Rural	11.9	11.4	10.9	11.0
Urban	88.1	88.6	89.1	89.0

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Figure 2

Figure 2: Percentage of Children Born at Low Birth Weight (less than 2,500 grams)
	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
Note: Birth related indicators for 2000 should be interpreted with caution at the national level due to concerns with the quality of some provincial birth registration data. Source: Canadian Vital Statistics — Birth Database (1998 to 2004) (Statistics Canada).
Male	5.4	5.3	5.3	5.3	5.4	5.4	5.6
Female	6.1	6.0	5.9	5.9	6.0	6.3	6.3

Figure 2: Percentage of Children Born at High Birth Weight (more than 4,000 grams)
	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
Note: Birth related indicators for 2000 should be interpreted with caution at the national level due to concerns with the quality of some provincial birth registration data. Source: Canadian Vital Statistics — Birth Database (1998 to 2004) (Statistics Canada).
Male	15.6	16.0	16.8	16.5	16.2	15.7	15.1
Female	9.7	10.0	10.6	10.5	10.0	9.7	9.2

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Figure 3

Figure 3: Low Birth Weight in OECD Countries, 2005
	Percentage of Low Birth Rate (less than 2,500 grams) Infants in OECD Countries, 2005	Change in Proportion of Low Birth Weight Infants in OECD Countries, 2000 to 2005
^a 2003 data rather than 2005 ^b 2004 data rather than 2005 ^c 2003 data rather than 2005; 2001 data rather than 2000 Source: OECD Health Data 2007
Iceland	3.9	0
Finland	4.1	-5
Sweden^b	4.2	-5
Korea	4.3	n/a
Norway^b	4.8	-4
Luxembourg^c	4.9	14
Ireland^b	4.9	n/a
Denmark	4.9	4
Canada^b	5.9	7
Poland	6.1	7
New Zealand^b	6.1	-5
Netherlands	6.2	19
Australia^b	6.4	2
OECD	6.6	5
Italy^b	6.7	0
Czech Republic	6.7	16
Germany	6.8	6
France^b	6.8	0
Austria	6.8	8
Switzerland	7.0	11
Spain^b	7.1	9
Slovak Republic	7.2	7
United Kingdom	7.5	0
Portugal	7.5	6
Belgium^b	7.8	7
United States^b	8.1	7
Hungary	8.2	-2
Mexico	8.8	n/a
Greece	8.8	9
Japan	9.5	10
Turkey^a	11.3	n/a

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Figure 4

Figure 4: Pre-Term Birth Rate by Gender, 1998-2004
	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
Note: Birth related indicators for 2000 should be interpreted with caution at the national level due to concerns with the quality of some provincial birth registration data. Source: Canadian Vital Statistics — Birth Database (1998 to 2004) (Statistics Canada).
Male	7.6	7.7	8.0	7.7	7.9	8.0	8.4
Female	6.7	6.9	7.0	6.9	7.0	7.3	7.5
Both Sexes	7.2	7.3	7.5	7.3	7.5	7.7	7.9

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Figure 5

Figure 5: Prevalence of Diagnosed Asthma Among Children from Birth to 5 Years of Age, 1998/99-2004/05
	Rural				Urban
	1998/99	2000/01	2002/03	2004/05	1998/99	2000/01	2002/03	2004/05
Source: National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, Cycles 3 (1998/99) through 6 (2004/05).
Male	10.1	10.0	10.0	8.6	12.8	12.5	11.8	11.5
Female	5.8	7.1	5.9	5.9	7.2	8.2	7.3	6.3

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Figure 6

Figure 6: Percentage of Children from Birth to 3 Years of Age by Level of Motor and Social Development, 1998/99-2004/05
	Male				Female
	1998/99	2000/01	2002/03	2004/05	1998/99	2000/01	2002/03	2004/05
Source: National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, Cycles 3 (1998/99) through 6 (2004/05).
Advanced	12.0	9.4	10.1	8.1	18.2	17.4	16.6	13.0
Average	70.2	75.8	74.1	72.4	72.0	73.8	72.2	73.7
Delayed	17.9	14.8	15.8	19.4	9.8	8.8	11.2	13.3

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Figure 7

Figure 7: Percentage of Children from 2 to 5 Years of Age Showing Hyperactivity/Inattention Problems, 2000/01 - 2004/05
	2000/01	2002/03	2004/05
Note: Cycle 3 (1998/99) data are not included because the set of questions used to measure hyperactivity/inattention included a question on “fidgeting”, which was removed beginning with Cycle 4 (2000/01). Source: National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, Cycles 4 (2000/01) through 6 (2004/05).
Male	7.5	7.4	8.9
Female	4.6	3.5	4.2
Total	6.1	5.5	6.6

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Figure 8

Figure 8: Percentage of Children from 2 to 5 Years of Age Not Showing Signs of Physical and Indirect Aggression, 1998/99 - 2004/05
	Physical Aggression				Indirect Aggression
	1998/99	2000/01	2002/03	2004/05	1998/99	2000/01	2002/03	2004/05
Source: National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, Cycles 3 (1998/99) through 6 (2004/05).
Male	83.4	86.0	84.0	84.0	92.9	93.9	93.3	93.7
Female	89.8	90.1	86.9	87.8	90.2	92.6	92.4	93.7

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Figure 9

Figure 9: Percentage of Children from 4 to 5 Years of Age by Score on the PPVT-R, Who Am I?, and Number Knowledge Assessment, 2000/01 - 2004/05
	PPVT-R			Who Am I?			Number Knowledge
	2000/01	2002/03	2004/05	2000/01	2002/03	2004/05	2000/01	2002/03	2004/05
Source: National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth Cycles 4 (2000/01) through 6 (2004/05).
Advanced	16.4	17.3	16.5	10.2	11.2	19.4	14.3	11.6	11.1
Average	69.1	69.6	70.0	74.6	74.5	65.8	71.0	72.7	72.6
Delayed	14.5	13.1	13.6	15.2	14.3	14.8	14.7	15.8	16.4

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Figure 10

Figure 10: PPVT-R by Gender, 2000/01 - 2004/05
	Male			Female			Total
	2000/01	2002/03	2004/05	2000/01	2002/03	2004/05	2000/01	2002/03	2004/05
Source: National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, Cycles 4 (2000/01) through 6 (2004/05).
Upper Confidence interval (95%)	100.8	100.9	102.3	101.9	103.0	102.3	101.0	101.7	102.0
Mean	99.7	100.0	101.2	100.8	102.2	101.2	100.2	101.1	101.2
Lower Confidence interval (95%)	98.6	99.1	100.1	99.8	101.4	100.0	99.5	100.5	100.4

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Figure 11

Figure 11: Who Am I? by Gender, 2000/01-2004/05
	Male			Female			Total
	2000/01	2002/03	2004/05	2000/01	2002/03	2004/05	2000/01	2002/03	2004/05
Source: National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, Cycles 4 (2000/01) through 6 (2004/05).
Upper Confidence interval (95%)	97.2	97.5	100.0	104.6	104.6	108.6	100.6	100.8	103.8
Mean	96.1	96.8	98.8	103.5	103.8	107.4	99.7	100.2	103.0
Lower Confidence interval (95%)	95.0	96.0	97.6	102.4	103.1	106.2	98.9	99.7	102.1

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Figure 12

Figure 12: Number Knowledge by Gender, 2000/01 - 2004/05
	Male			Female			Total
	2000/01	2002/03	2004/05	2000/01	2002/03	2004/05	2000/01	2002/03	2004/05
Source: National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, Cycles 4 (2000/01) through 6 (2004/05).
Upper Confidence interval (95%)	101.3	99.6	99.1	102.4	100.7	101.0	101.5	99.9	99.7
Mean	100.0	98.7	98.1	101.4	100.0	100.0	100.7	99.3	99.0
Lower Confidence interval (95%)	98.8	97.9	97.0	100.4	99.3	98.8	99.9	98.8	98.2

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Figure 13

Figure 13: Children from 4 to 5 Years of Age with Delayed Cognitive Test Scores by Level of Parental Education, 2004/05
		Less than High School	College/University Degree
^E Use with caution. Source: National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, Cycle 6 (2004/05).
PPVT-R	Mother	32.3	9.7
PPVT-R	Father	20.1^E	10.0
Who Am I?	Mother	26.4	11.6
Who Am I?	Father	27.4	11.1
Number Knowledge	Mother	31.8	11.4
Number Knowledge	Father	29.2	11.8

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Figure 14

Figure 14: Work/Study Status of Parents with Children from Birth to 5 Years of Age by Family Type, 1998/99-2004/05
		1998/99	2000/01	2002/03	2004/05
^E Use with caution. Source: National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, Cycles 3 (1998/99) through 6 (2004/05).
Two-parent families	Both worked or studied	68.0	66.6	63.7	65.8
	One worked or studied	30.2	31.7	34.3	32.5
	Neither worked nor studiedE	1.8	1.8	2.1	1.7
Single-parent families	Worked or studied	71.1	67.5	68.3	62.9
Single-parent families	Did not work or study	28.9	32.5	31.7	37.1

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Figure 15

Figure 15: Mother's Employment Rates by Age of Youngest Child in 2002^a as a Percentage of Persons Between 15 and 64 Years of Age, for Select Countries
	under 3	3 to 5
^a 2001 in Canada, Denmark, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand and United States; 2000 in Australia. Source: OECD's Society at a Glance 2006. Available at http://lysander.sourceoecd.org/vl=1911288/cl=43/nw=1/rpsv/society_glance/data/ss3-3.xls.
Austria	80.1	70.3
Belgium	70.4	67.4
Canada	58.7	68.1
Czech Republic	16.8	36.5
Denmark	71.4	77.5
Finland	32.2	74.7
France	66.2	63.2
Germany	56.0	58.1
Greece	47.9	50.9
Italy	54.4	51.7
Luxembourg	70.6	63.1
Netherlands	74.2	68.2
New Zealand	43.2	58.2
Portugal	75.3	81.9
Sweden	72.9	82.5
Switzerland	58.2	64.5
United Kingdom	57.2	56.9
United States	56.6	60.0
OECD-18	59.0	64.1

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Figure 16

Figure 16: Percentage of Families Living Below the Post-Tax Low-Income Cutoff (LICO), 1999-2005
	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Source: Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID), Statistics Canada (1999 through 2005).
All families	16.4	15.6	13.5	13.9	12.7	13.1	13.4
Two-Parent Families	11.4	11.2	9.9	8.3	7.5	8.6	9.3
Single-Parent Families	47.1	44.8	36.7	47.6	46.4	48.2	40.8

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Figure 17

Figure 17: Prevalence a of Breastfeeding by Urban/Rural Status, 1998/99 - 2004/05
	Rural	Urban
^a Prevalence of breastfeeding includes both children currently being breastfed as well as children who were ever breastfed ^b Note for Cycle 5 (2002/03): Intended coverage of all 0 – 1 year olds was not achieved due to an application error at Cycle 5. This yields “Not stated” values for those introduced at Cycle 5 who were 24 months old or older at the time of the interview. Does not include children currently being breastfed. Source: National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, Cycles 3 (1998/99) through 6 (2004/05).
1998/99	72.9	80.9
2000/01	75.3	82.9
2002/03b	77.5	85.1
2004/05	80.6	86.7

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Figure 18

Figure 18: Parental Depression and Outcomes of Children from 2 to 5 Years of Age, 2004/05
		Little or no signs of behaviour	Frequent signs of behaviour
^a Emotional Anxiety: There is a significant difference between 72.9% and 86.8%; and there is a significant difference between 27.1% and 13.2%. ^b Physical Aggression: There is a significant difference between 27.1% and 12.9%; and there is a significant difference between 72.9% and 87.1%. Source: National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth Cycle 6 (2004/05).
Emotional Anxiety	High Depressive Symptoms	72.9^a	27.1^a
Emotional Anxiety	Not High Depressive Symptoms	86.8^a	13.2^a
Aggression	High Depressive Symptoms	72.9^b	27.1^b
Aggression	Not High Depressive Symptoms	87.1^b	12.9^b

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Figure 19

Figure 19: Incidence of Smoking Among Parents with Children from Birth to 5 Years of Age by Rural/Urban Status, 1998/99-2004/05
		Neither Parent Smokes	One Parent Smokes	Two Parents Smoke
^a There is a significant difference between 12.2% and 9.0%. ^b There is a significant difference between 63.0% and 67.8%. Source: National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, Cycles 3 (1998/99) through 6 (2004/05).
Rural	1998/99	54.4	27.6	18.0
	2000/01	55.9	28.8	15.2
	2002/03	61.0	26.2	12.8
	2004/05	63.0^b	24.8	12.2^a
Urban	1998/99	60.8	27.3	11.8
	2000/01	62.3	27.2	10.5
	2002/03	66.7	24.0	9.3
	2004/05	67.8^b	23.2	9.0^a

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Figure 20

Figure 20: Percentage of Children from Birth to 5 Years of Age Living in Well-Functioning Families and Having Positive Interactions with Their Parents by Gender & Location, 1998/99-2004/05
		1998/99	2004/05
Source: National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, Cycles 3 (1998/99) and 6 (2004/05).
Well-Functioning Families	Female	89.2	91.4
	Male	89.0	91.1
	Rural	89.9	91.5
	Urban	89.0	91.2
	Total	89.1	91.3
Positive Parental Interactions	Female	90.3	94.5
	Male	90.8	94.2
	Rural	91.6	93.0
	Urban	90.4	94.5
	Total	90.6	94.3

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Figure 21

Figure 21: Percentage of Children from Birth to 5 Years of Age by Frequency of Reading Activities, 2004/05
	2004/05
Source: National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, Cycle 6 (2004/05).
Once a Week or less	12.2
A Few Times a Week	23.1
Daily	64.8

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Figure 22

Figure 22: Cognitive Development of Children from 4 to 5 Years of Age by Frequency of Reading Activities, 2004/05
		Delayed	Average	Advanced
^a There is a significant difference between 11.6% and 19.5% ^b There is a significant difference between 17.8% and 9.5%. ^c There is a significant difference between 8.6% and 13.3%. Source: National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, Cycle 6 (2004/05).
PPVT-R	A Few Times a Week	17.8^b	70.5	11.6^a
PPVT-R	Daily	9.5^b	71.0	19.5^a
Number Knowledge	A Few Times a Week	16.6	74.8	8.6^c
Number Knowledge	Daily	14.5	72.3	13.3^c
Who am I?	A Few Times a Week	16.0	64.8	19.2
Who am I?	Daily	12.2	67.0	20.8

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Figure 23

Figure 23: Percentage of Young Children from Birth to 5 Years of Age Living in Cohesive or Save Neighbourhoods, 1998/99-2004/05
		Rural Neighbourhoods	Urban Neighbourhoods
Source: National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, Cycles 3 (1998/99) through 6 (2004/05).
Cohesive	1998/99	89.4	84.2
	2000/01	91.9	85.0
	2002/03	91.0	86.5
	2004/05	93.0	85.6
Safe	2000/01	77.4	75.5
	2002/03	78.9	77.8
	2004/05	78.2	77.7

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Figure 24

Figure 24: Population from Birth to 5 Years of Age by Aboriginal Identity, On and Off Reserve, Canada, 2006
Source: Statistics Canada, 2006 Census (custom table)
Total First Nations	86,215	First Nations On Reserve	40,290
Total First Nations	86,215	First Nations off Reserve	45,925
Métis	35,050
Inuit	7,015

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