A Record Number Of Canadians Are Facing Retirement
SAINT JOHN–Canada is facing record retirements from an aging labour force amid high job vacancies and historically low unemployment.
Statistics Canada released a new round of data April 27 from the 2021 census. Laurent Martel, director of the organization’s Centre for Demography, said the number of working-age people facing retirement has never been this high.
“One in five Canadians among the working-age population is currently between the age of 55 and 64, likely to exit the labour force if not already done,” Martel told reporters on Wednesday.
According to the data, nearly 22 percent of working-age people across Canada fall into that category.
The aging of baby boomers—the youngest of whom are between 56 and 64 today—is accelerating population aging in general, said the report.
“There are very large implications of this situation and it is certainly one factor explaining the current labour shortages that Canada is experiencing,” said Martel.
From 2016 to 2021, the number of people aged 65 and older rose 18.3 percent, to 7 million. That represents nearly one in five Canadians (19 percent), up from 16.9 percent in 2016.
The country’s senior population has also grown six times faster than children under the age of 15, which now number 6 million.
The new data also shows the number of people 85 and older has doubled over the past 20 years, reaching 861,000 in 2021. Population projections suggest that number could triple within the next 25 years.
Statistics Canada said the demographic shifts are due to low fertility, the gradual increase in life expectancy, and the fact that the large baby boom generation started turning 65 in 2011.
“Immigration has a rejuvenating effect on the Canadian population but this effect is not enough to stop the population aging process,” said Wednesday’s report.
N.B. no longer the oldest province
Newfoundland and Labrador has overtaken New Brunswick for the oldest population in Canada. The province’s average age is 45.5, with 23.6 percent of residents 65 or older.
New Brunswick is a close second, with an average age of 44.7 years old. A total of 22.8 percent of the population is aged 65 and older.
Rounding out the top five is Nova Scotia (44.2 years old), Prince Edward Island (43.1), and Quebec (42.8). Canada’s average age is 41.9, up nearly one year from the 2016 census.
Gender diversity data
For the first time, the most recent census also included data relating to gender diversity. Nearly 101,000 people 15 and older (1 in 300 people) reported themselves as transgender or non-binary, accounting for 0.33 percent of the population in this age group.
The proportions of transgender and non-binary people were three to seven times higher for Generation Z (born between 1997 and 2006) and millennials (born 1981 to 1996) than for Generation X (born 1966 to 1980), baby boomers (born 1946 to 1965) and the Interwar and Greatest Generations (born in 1945 or earlier).
Nova Scotia, Yukon, and British Columbia had the highest proportions of transgender and non-binary people aged 15 and older. Victoria, B.C., Halifax, N.S., and Fredericton, N.B., had the most gender diversity among Canadian large urban centres.
Brad Perry is the news director with CHSJ/Country 94, Huddle content partners.