Most searched for facts:
Canada’s Population: 36.9 million (2017)
Number of Households: 14.1 million (2016 census)
Size of Canada: 9,984,670 sq. km, 3,855,103 sq. mi.
Annual Births: 389,912 (2017)
Life Expectancy Men/Women: 79/83 Years (2017)
Immigration to Canada: 320,932 new permanent residents (2016)
Canadian Life Expectancy – Older Canadians expected to live to just 60.
Money, Money, Money: Loonies and Minting Money in Canada
One-quarter of your Life watching Television
Canada’s Flag and all the Flags of its Provinces and Territories
When Were Canada’s Provinces Founded?
The Dominion of Canada came into being on July 1, 1867. Dominion indicated Canada was a self-governing colony of the British Empire.
On the day Canada came into being, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec became its first provinces.
Further provinces and territories were added over the years, with the most recent territory – Nunavut – forming in 1999.
Dates of Canadian Province and Territory Formation
1867 – Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick
1870 – Manitoba, Northwest Territories (N.W.T.)
1871 – British Columbia
1873 – Prince Edward Island
1880 – Transfer of the Arctic Islands (to N.W.T.)
1898 – Yukon Territory
1905 – Alberta, Saskatchewan
1949 – Newfoundland and Labrador
1999 – Nunavut
Too Few Men in Canada
All Age Groups
For every 100 men, Canada has 104 women.
15 – 64 Age Group
In the 15 – 64 age group, for every 100 men, Canada has 102 women.
The provinces where the imbalance is greatest are Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia; both have more than 105 women for every 100 men.
There are more men than women in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Alberta has 102 men for every 100 women. Nunavut has more than 105 men for every 100 women.
Number of Males/Females in Canada: All Age Groups
| Place | Total Males | Total Females | Total People |
| Canada | 16,414,230 | 17,062,460 | 33,476,690 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 250,570 | 263,970 | 514,540 |
| Prince Edward Island | 67,605 | 72,600 | 140,205 |
| Nova Scotia | 445,590 | 476,140 | 921,730 |
| New Brunswick | 366,440 | 384,735 | 751,170 |
| Quebec | 3,875,865 | 4,027,140 | 7,903,000 |
| Ontario | 6,263,140 | 6,588,685 | 12,851,820 |
| Manitoba | 594,550 | 613,715 | 1,208,270 |
| Saskatchewan | 511,555 | 521,830 | 1,033,380 |
| Alberta | 1,827,810 | 1,817,440 | 3,645,260 |
| British Columbia | 2,156,605 | 2,243,455 | 4,400,055 |
| Yukon Territory | 17,055 | 16,840 | 33,895 |
| Northwest Territories | 21,060 | 20,400 | 41,460 |
| Nunavut | 16,395 | 15,510 | 31,905 |
2011 Census, Statistics Canada
Number of Males/Females in Canada: 15 – 64 Age Group
| Place | Total Males | Total Females | Total People |
| Canada | 11,344,355 | 11,579,935 | 22,924,290 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 173,780 | 182,020 | 355,800 |
| Prince Edward Island | 45,765 | 48,595 | 94,360 |
| Nova Scotia | 306,885 | 323,255 | 630,140 |
| New Brunswick | 253,220 | 260,740 | 513,960 |
| Quebec | 2,686,195 | 2,700,495 | 5,386,695 |
| Ontario | 4,312,525 | 4,480,195 | 8,792,725 |
| Manitoba | 400,650 | 404,005 | 804,655 |
| Saskatchewan | 342,240 | 339,575 | 681,815 |
| Alberta | 1,292,610 | 1,262,135 | 2,554,745 |
| British Columbia | 1,492,285 | 1,541,695 | 3,033,975 |
| Yukon Territory | 12,400 | 12,545 | 24,940 |
| Northwest Territories | 15,310 | 14,750 | 30,055 |
| Nunavut | 10,490 | 9,930 | 20,420 |
2011 Census, Statistics Canada
To Boldly Go Where No Canadian Has Gone Before
Star Trek
The original Star Trek owes much to Canada.
Two of its stars – William Shatner (Captain Kirk) and James Doohan (Scotty) were Canadian.
William Shatner was born on March 22, 1931, in Montreal, Quebec.
James Doohan was born on March 3, 1920, in Vancouver, British Columbia. Doohan was most famous for his missing finger and Scotty’s accent. Doohan was wounded in the leg and hand leading his men into battle on D-Day, and eventually lost a finger.
The Scottyish Accent
In the 1980s, Doohan’s unique rendition of a Scottish accent led to the formation of the Scottyish Society at St Andrews University in Scotland. Members offered renditions of the poetry of Scotland’s national poet, Robert Burns, in a “Scottyish” accent.
References and Further Reading
Social Outcasts?
In 2011, 19.9% of Canadians aged 12 or older smoked either daily or occasionally. 16.7% of men and 13.5% of women were smokers.
This is lower than in 2005, when 22% of Canadians reported being smokers, and lower than in 1994-1995 when the figure was 29%.
Rates were highest among 20 to 34-year-olds, 26.8% of whom smoked daily or occasionally. Three out of ten men and about one-quarter of women in this age group smoked.
Smoking rates were much higher in Canada’s far north. More than half of Nunavut residents aged 12 or older were daily or occasional smokers, as were about one-third of those in Yukon and Northwest Territories.
In the more populated provinces, smoking rates were highest in Nova Scotia, Alberta and Saskatchewan. About one-fifth of adults smoked in these provinces.
Smoking rates were lowest in Ontario (19.4%) and British Columbia (15.8%).
Smoking rates have declined in Canada from 22% in 2007 to 20.1% in 2009 to 19.9% in 2011.
References and Further Reading
Size of Canada
How Big is Canada?
• Canada is the world’s second largest country, behind Russia.
• Canada’s total area is 9,984,670 km2 (3,855,103 mi2).
• Freshwater lakes account for 8.9% of Canada’s size – that’s 891,163 km2 (344,080 mi2) of lakes.
• Canada’s total land area is 9,093,507 km2 (3,511,023 mi2).
• Without its lakes, Canada would be smaller than the USA. The United States of America actually has a greater land area than Canada – the USA’s land area is 9,161,923 km2 (3,537,438 mi2) –
BUT, since the USA doesn’t have the lake cover that Canada does, the USA’s total area of 9,826,630 km2 (3,794,083 mi2) is slightly less than Canada’s.
• Although Canada is a huge country, it covers less than two percent of the Earth’s surface of 510 million km2.
• Canada’s land makes up 6.1 percent of the total land on Earth, which is 148.9 million km2.
Map of Canada
Click here for a larger map of Canada
Record Breaking Temperatures Canada
Temperature Extremes – Hot and Cold
Record High Temperature – Canada
Canada’s record high temperature, 45 °C (113 °F), was recorded at both Midale and Yellow Grass, Saskatchewan on July 5, 1937.
Record Low Temperature – Canada
Canada’s record low temperature, -63 °C (minus 81 °F), was measured at Snag, Yukon Territory on February 3, 1947.
An Even Lower Temperature, But…
… it was measured on top of a mountain. A temperature of -77.5 °C (-108 °F) was recorded on Mount Logan in 1991. This is a record low measurement for the northern hemisphere and the lowest temperature measured outside of Antarctica.
Prior to this, the lowest recorded temperature in the northern hemisphere had been -68 °C (-90 °F) in Verkhoyansk, Siberia.
The Canadian measurement was taken at a height of almost 6000 m on Mount Logan, Canada’s highest mountain. The Siberian measurement was taken at the much lower of elevation of 107 m.
References and Further Reading
Northern Hemisphere Lowest Temperature
Largest Island in Canada
Baffin Island
The largest Island in Canada is Baffin Island. Its area is 507,451 km2 (195,928 square miles).
Baffin Island is part of the territory of Nunavut and it is the fifth biggest island on Earth. The four islands larger than Baffin Island are:
• Greenland 2,130,800 km2
• New Guinea 785,753 km2
• Borneo 748,168 km2
• Madagascar 587,713 km2
Baffin Island is more than double the size of the UK and is slightly smaller than France.
Australia (7,617,930 km2) is much larger than any of the islands above, but Australia is classified as a continent, not an island.
Only two US states are bigger than Baffin Island – Alaska and Texas.
Nasa Satellite Image of Baffin Island
Four Canadian provinces are smaller than Baffin Island. These are:
• Newfoundland and Labrador
• New Brunswick
• Nova Scotia
• Prince Edward Island
The Slimmest and Fattest in Canada
In recent years, the number of obese Canadians has increased dramatically.
Atlantic Canada has some of the worst Canadian obesity rates and contains the two cities which are home to Canada’s fattest people. In first place for fatties is St. John’s with a rate of 36.40 per cent obese. It is followed by the similarly named Saint John with similarly fatty statistics at 34.70 per cent obese.
Vancouver has the lowest obesity rate with 11.70 per cent. Toronto has the second lowest percentage of obese people at 15.60 per cent.
Canadian Obesity by City
| City | Percentage Obese |
| St. John’s | 36.40 |
| Saint John | 34.70 |
| Hamilton | 34.60 |
| Windsor | 33.20 |
| Thunder Bay | 32.60 |
| Regina | 31.80 |
| Kitchener | 30.70 |
| Oshawa | 29.60 |
| Kingston | 28.90 |
| Saskatoon | 27.00 |
| London | 26.60 |
| Greater Sudbury | 26.10 |
| Calgary | 25.70 |
| Winnipeg | 25.20 |
| Abbotsford | 25.00 |
| St. Catharines | 23.10 |
| Montreal | 21.20 |
| Edmonton | 20.10 |
| Ottawa | 19.70 |
| Victoria | 19.00 |
| Saguenay | 18.90 |
| Halifax | 18.40 |
| Quebec | 17.30 |
| Toronto | 15.60 |
| Vancouver | 11.70 |
References and Further Reading
http://www.thestar.com/living/health/article/286763
Uranium Canada
Canada sources approximately 20 to 30% of the world’s annual uranium output. As such, Canada is the largest producer of natural uranium in the world.
The province of Saskatchewan holds the world’s richest deposits of uranium – Saskatchewan produces all of Canada’s uranium.
Over 80% of the uranium produced in Canada is exported for electricity generation.
Canada mines uranium ore in the form of pitchblende, a black mineral. The ore is crushed and milled to separate the uranium.
Mining companies are exploring northern Saskatchewan and Alberta for new uranium deposits.
The energy contained in Canada’s current uranium reserves is approximately equivalent to 6.5 billion tonnes of coal or 20 billion barrels of oil.
References and Further Reading
Mineral Resources of Canada – Uranium
Uranium Reserves and Production
Largest Freshwater Island in the World – Manitoulin Island
Canada is home to the largest freshwater island in the world.
Manitoulin Island, in Lake Huron, is the world’s largest island surrounded by freshwater.
The island itself has 108 freshwater lakes.
Its area is 2,766 km2 (1,068 square miles).
It has a permanent population of 12 thousand people.
Great Lakes and Manitoulin Island
Higher Resolution Image of Manitoulin Island with its own lakes
References and Further Reading
Canada’s Highest Mountain – Still Growing
Mount Logan – Canada’s Highest Mountain
Canada’s highest mountain is Mount Logan, 5,959 metres (19,551 ft) high.
As a result of tectonic activity, Mount Logan continuies to gain height by an average of a few millimetres each year.
Mount Logan Location
Mount Logan is located at 60o 34′ N, 140o 24′ W. It is the highest peak in the St. Elias mountain range, which runs from Alaska in the West to the Yukon in the east.
Mount Logan may be the world’s largest mountain. Its overall footprint covers a greater area than any other known mountain massif on Earth.
It is named after Sir William Edmond Logan, founder of the Geological Survey of Canada.
Mount Logan, Yukon
Capital Cities of Canada
Canada is federal country. Each of its provinces and territories has its own capital city and government.
Canada’s Capital Cities
| Province/Territory | Capital City |
| Canada | Ottawa |
| Newfoundland & Labrador | St. John’s |
| Prince Edward Island | Charlottetown |
| Nova Scotia | Halifax |
| New Brunswick | Fredericton |
| Quebec | Quebec City |
| Ontario | Toronto |
| Manitoba | Winnipeg |
| Saskatchewan | Regina |
| Alberta | Edmonton |
| British Columbia | Victoria |
| Yukon | Whitehorse |
| North West Territories | Yellowknife |
| Nunavut | Iqaluit |
Top 10 Countries Visited by Canadians
The USA was by far the number one choice of places for Canadians to visit, followed by Mexico and the United Kingdom.
Top 10 Countries Visited by Canadians
| Country of origin | Nights Spent (thousands) |
| United States | 176,106 |
| Mexico | 15,857 |
| United Kingdom | 10,440 |
| France | 9,074 |
| Cuba | 8,615 |
| Dominican Republic | 6,322 |
| China | 6,275 |
| Italy | 3,906 |
| Germany | 3,416 |
| Spain | 2,438 |
Source: Statistics Canada, Canada at a Glance 2013, using 2011 data
Top 10 Countries for Visitors to Canada
The USA is by far the biggest source of visitors to Canada, followed by Mexico.
Top 10 countries of Origin for Visitors to Canada
| Country of origin | Spending in Canada (CAN$ millions) |
| United States | 6,133 |
| United Kingdom | 796 |
| France | 544 |
| Germany | 450 |
| China | 407 |
| Australia | 392 |
| Japan | 307 |
| South Korea | 236 |
| Mexico | 177 |
| India | 162 |
Source: Statistics Canada, Canada at a Glance 2013, using 2011 data
Canadian Cattle Country
Cattle in Canada
Canada is home to 14 million cattle. Most of these cattle live on the prairies, with over 5 million in the rodeo province of Alberta and more than 3 million in Saskatchewan.
Nearly 60 percent of Canada’s beef is produced in Alberta – beef is Alberta’s number one agricultural commodity.
Alberta has 21 million hectares of farmland (52 million acres). Almost one-third of all Alberta farmland is natural land for pasture. Alberta averages 189 beef cattle per farm.
References and Further Reading
Canada – World’s Largest Source of Cesium
Cesium is a rare chemical element.
It is present in the Earth’s crust at an average of approximately 3 parts per million.
More than two-thirds of the world’s reserves of Cesium – 110,000 tonnes – are found at Bernic Lake, Manitoba, Canada.
At the present rate of world mine production, which may be between 5,000 and 10,000 kg/yr, these reserves will last thousands of years.
Cesium is used in highly precise atomic clocks.
NIST-F1, America’s primary time and frequency standard, is a cesium fountain atomic clock developed at the NIST laboratories in Boulder, Colorado. NIST-F1 contributes to the international group of atomic clocks that define Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the official world time. As scientists continue to improve the underlying technology, uncertainty in NIST-F1′s measurement of time is continually improving. Currently it neither gains nor loses as much a second in more than 60 million years.
References and Further Reading
Mineral Commodity Profiles – Cesium
Detached Houses in Canada
Detached, standalone, houses are the most common type of property in Canada, followed by apartments. Over one-half of Canadian households live in detached houses while almost one-third of Canadian households live in an apartment.
House Types in Canada, 2011
| Type of Dwelling | Percentage of Households |
| Single detached | 56.3 % |
| Single attached | 11.3 % |
| Apartment | 30.6 % |
| Dwelling part of a condominium development | 8.8 % |
| Other | 1.8 % |
Data provided by Statistics Canada
People in rural Canada are most likely to live in detached houses. Proportions of households in detached houses for some of the bigger cities are as follows:
Proportion of Detached Households in Selected Cities, 2011
| City | Percentage of Detached Houses |
| Regina, Saskatchewan | 69 % |
| Winnipeg, Manitoba | 63 % |
| Calgary, Alberta | 59 % |
| Hamilton, Ontario | 57 % |
| Halifax, Nova Scotia | 51 % |
| Toronto, Ontario | 41 % |
| Vancouver, British Columbia | 18 % |
| Montreal, Quebec | 33 % |
Data provided by Statistics Canada, 2011 Census, Focus on Geography Series
Levels of Immigration to Canada
Canada welcomed 248,748 new permanent residents in 2011.
190,842 temporary foreign workers and 98,383 foreign students also arrived.
The combined total was 537,973 newcomers for the year.
Top 10 Source Countries for Permanent Residence in Canada 2010
| Country | Number Granted Residence |
| Philippines | 34,991 |
| China | 28,696 |
| India | 24,965 |
| United States | 8,829 |
| Iran | 6,840 |
| United Kingdom | 6,550 |
| Haiti | 6,208 |
| Pakistan | 6,073 |
| France | 5,867 |
| United Arab Emirates | 5,223 |
Source: Annual Report to Parliament on Immigration, October 2012
Canadian Life Expectancy – Older Canadians expected to live to just 60.
Canadians born in 2009 have a life expectancy of 81.1 years.
Life expectancy was 78.8 years for men and 83.3 years for women.
People born in Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut had the lowest life expectancy, at 75.1 years.
People born in British Columbia had the highest life expectancy, at 81.7 years.
Life expectancy has increased throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, as shown in the table below.
Life Expectancy through the years for Canadians
| Year of Birth | Life Expectancy Males (years) | Life Expectancy Females (years) |
| 1920 to 1922 | 59 | 61 |
| 1930 to 1932 | 60 | 62 |
| 1940 to 1942 | 63 | 66 |
| 1950 to 1952 | 66 | 71 |
| 1960 to 1962 | 68 | 74 |
| 1970 to 1972 | 69 | 76 |
| 1980 to 1982 | 72 | 79 |
| 1990 to 1992 | 75 | 81 |
| 2000 to 2002 | 77 | 82 |
| 2003 to 2005 | 78 | 83 |
| 2005 to 2007 | 78 | 83 |
| 2009 | 79 | 83 |
Figures provided by Statistics Canada
Canadian Nobel Prize Winners
Prize Winners Who Were Born In Canada and Worked in Canada
Frederick Grant Banting – The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1923 – shared with John James Richard Macleod for the discovery of insulin.
Banting was born on November 14, 1891, at Alliston, Ontario. Educated at the Public and High Schools at Alliston, he later went to the University of Toronto to study divinity, but soon transferred to the study of medicine.
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1923/banting-bio.html
Bertram N. Brockhouse – The Nobel Prize in Physics 1994 – shared with Clifford G. Shull for pioneering contributions to the development of neutron scattering techniques for studies of condensed matter.
Brockhouse was born in Lethbridge, Alberta, and worked at McMaster University Hamilton, Ontario.
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1994/brockhouse-autobio.html
Prize Winners Who Were Born In Canada and Worked Elsewhere
David H. Hubel – The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1981 – for discoveries concerning information processing in the visual system – shared with Roger W. Sperry and Torsten N. Wiesel.
Hubel was born in Windsor, Ontario.
“Three of my grandparents were also born in Canada: the fourth, my paternal grandfather, emigrated as a child to the U.S.A. from the Bavarian town of Noerdlingen.
“When I was born I acquired U.S. citizenship through my parents and Canadian citizenship by birth. (When it comes to prizes I don’t know whether each country gets half credit or both get full credit.)”
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1981/hubel-autobio.html
Henry Taube – The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1983 – for his work on the mechanisms of electron transfer reactions, especially in metal complexes.
Taube was born in Neudorf, Saskatchewan where he obtrained a B.S. and an M.S. before undertaking Ph.D. Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1983/taube-cv.html
Sidney Altman – The Nobel Prize for Chemistry 1989 – shared with Thomas R. Cech for their discovery of catalytic properties of RNA
“I was born in Montreal in 1939, the second son of poor immigrants. My mother worked in a textile mill and my father in a grocery store before they met and married.
“For our immediate family and relatives, Canada was a land of opportunity. However, it was made clear to the first generation of Canadian-born children that the path to opportunity was through education.”
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1989/index.html
Richard E. Taylor – The Nobel Prize in Physics 1990 – for pioneering investigations concerning deep inelastic scattering of electrons on protons and bound neutrons, which have been of essential importance for the development of the quark model in particle physics.
Taylor was born in Medicine Hat, Alberta.
“My father was the son of a Northern Irish carpenter and his Scottish wife who homesteaded on the Canadian prairies; my mother was an American, the daughter of Norwegian immigrants to the northern United States who moved to a farm in Alberta shortly after the first World War.”
Taylor obtained in M.S. at the University of Alberta in Edmonton before moving to Stanford, USA for his graduate studies.
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1990/taylor-autobio.html
Rudolph A. Marcus – The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1992 – for his contributions to the theory of electron transfer reactions in chemical systems.
Marcus was born in Montreal, Canada, where he attended McGill University.
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1992/marcus-autobio.html
Willard S. Boyle – The Nobel Prize in Physics 2009 – for the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit – the CCD sensor – shared with Charles K. Kao and George E. Smith.
Willard S. Boyle was born in Amherst, Nova Scotia.
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2009/
Prize Winners Who Were Born Elsewhere and Worked in Canada
John James Richard Macleod – The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1923 – shared with Frederick Grant Banting for the discovery of insulin.
Macleod was born on September 6, 1876 at Cluny, near Dunkeld, Perthshire, Scotland. In 1918 he was elected Professor of Physiology at the University of Toronto, Canada. Here he was Director of the Physiological Laboratory and Associate Dean of the Faculty of Medicine.
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1923/macleod-bio.html
Gerhard Herzberg – The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1971 – for his contributions to the knowledge of electronic structure and geometry of molecules, particularly free radicals.
Herzberg was born in Hamburg, Germany. In August 1935 he left Germany as a refugee and took up a guest professorship at the University of Saskatchewan. From 1945 to 1948 Herzberg was professor of spectroscopy at the University of Chicago. He returned to Canada in 1948 and was made Principal Research Officer then Director of the Division of Physics at the National Research Council
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1971/herzberg-bio.html
John C. Polanyi – The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1986 – for contributions concerning the dynamics of chemical elementary processes – shared with Dudley R. Herschbach and Yuan T. Lee.
Polanyi was born in 1929 in Berlin, Germany, of Hungarian parents. His University training was at Manchester University, England, where he obtained his B.Sc. in 1949, and his Ph.D. in 1952.
In 1952 he moved to Canada.
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1986/polanyi-bio.html
Michael Smith – The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1993 – for contributions to the developments of methods within DNA-based chemistry – shared with Kary B. Mullis.
Smith was born in 1932 in Blackpool, England and moved to Vancouver, British Columbia in 1956.
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1993/smith-autobio.html
Breathe Easy? Asthma Rates in Canada
Asthma in Canada
8.6 percent of Canadians suffer from asthma.
Rates are highest in Manitoba (10.7 percent) and lowest in Ontario (7.8 percent).
Females throughout Canada suffer higher rates of asthma than males — 9.8 percent vs 7.4 percent.
The prevalence of asthma among adults in Canada (15 years of age and over) has been rising over the last 30 years:
Adult Asthma Rates in Canada
1979 – 2.3 %
1988 – 4.9 %
1994 – 6.1 %
2004 – 8.4 %
2011 – 8.5 %
Asthma is the biggest cause of absenteeism from school and the third leading cause of absence from the workplace.
There are approximately 10 asthma deaths per week in Canada.
Fifth Highest Asthma Rate in the World
Canada has the fifth highest rate of adult asthma in the world.
1. Wales
2. Australia
3. Scotland
4. Republic of Ireland
5. Canada
6. Estonia
7. New Zealand
8. United States
9. England
10. Malta
References / Further Reading
Asthma, by sex, provinces and territories
World ranking for the percentage of adults with self-reported wheeze
Population of Canadian Provinces
Most People
Ontario, with 13 million people, has the largest population of any of Canadian province.
Quebec, with 8 million people, is next most populous.
Nunavut, Canada’s largest territory, has an average of just 17 people for every 1,000 square km of territory. It is Canada’s most sparsely populated land.
Prince Edward Island, Canada’s smallest province, has a population density of almost 25,000 people for every 1,000 square km and is Canada’s most densely populated land.
Population of Canada and Canadian Provinces and Territories
| Location | Population |
| Canada | 34,880,491 |
| Newfoundland & Labrador | 512,659 |
| Prince Edward Island | 146,145 |
| Nova Scotia | 948,695 |
| New Brunswick | 755,950 |
| Quebec | 8,054,756 |
| Ontario | 13,505,900 |
| Manitoba | 1,267,003 |
| Saskatchewan | 1,079,958 |
| Alberta | 3,873,745 |
| British Columbia | 4,622,573 |
| Yukon | 36,101 |
| North West Territories | 43,349 |
| Nunavut | 33,697 |
Figures from Statistics Canada, 2012 preliminary postcensal estimates.
Map of Canada
Click here for a larger map of Canada
Good Eggs – Eggs in Canada
Each Canadian eats an average of about 190 eggs a year.
In total, Canada has about 20 million egg-laying hens laying about 7 billion eggs each year.
Canada has just over one thousand regulated egg farms with an average of between 17,000 and 18,000 hens each.
One egg farm in the United States, which is home to about 280 million egg-laying hens, can produce as many eggs as all of the egg farms in Canada combined.
Reference – Further Reading
Basketball – A Canadian Invention
Basketball was invented by a Canadian – Dr. James Naismith. He was born on November 6, 1861 in Ramsay township, near Almonte, Ontario. His mother and father had immigrated to Canada from Scotland.
While at school Naismith’s played a game called duck-on-a-rock, trying to knock a “duck” off the top of a large rock by throwing another rock at it. He remembered this when tasked with devising an indoor, winter game for 18 students at the YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA. He wanted to provide students with an activity that required skill and not strength. Basketball was the result.
On December 21st 1891, James Naismith’s class of secretaries played the first ever game of basketball. The ball was a soccer ball and the goals were two peach baskets. After a somewhat chilly initial reception the new game proved to be a big hit.
References – Further Reading
http://www.kansasheritage.org/people/naismith.html
http://www.naismithmuseum.com/main.php?action=cms.JamesNaismith
Immigrants in Canada
Immigrant Numbers
Of Canada’s 34 million people, over 6 million are immigrants.
Immigrants born in the United Kingdom, numbering 515,135, were the largest immigrant grouping in the last Canadian census in 2006.
The largest numbers of immigrants arriving in Canada currently come from China, India and the Philippines.
In 2006, 155,105 people from China who had arrived since 2001 were in Canada. The corresponding figures for India and the Philippines were 129,140 and 77,880.
3 million immigrants live in Ontario, 1 million in British Columbia and 700,000 in Quebec.
19 percent of Canada’s population are immigrants. 28 percent of Ontrario’s, 27 percent of British Columbia’s and 16 percent of Alberta’s residents are immigrants. The provinces with the lowest proportions of immigrants are Newfoundland and Labrador (2 percent), Prince Edward Island (3 percent) and New Brunswick (3 percent).
The Good Oil – From Canada
Canada produces more oil than it consumes
Canada produces more oil than it needs for domestic consumption.
Nearly all of the surplus is exported to the USA.
The USA buys more oil from Canada than from any other country, including Saudi Arabia.
Most of Canada’s oil comes from three sources: the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin (WCSB); the oil sands deposits of northern Alberta; and offshore fields in the Atlantic Ocean.
Alberta’s oil sands lie within the WCSB. The WCSB is home to one of the biggest reserves of petroleum and natural gas on Earth and it also contains vast quantities of coal. The WCSB stretches across parts of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia the Northwest Territories.
Alberta has most of the oil and gas reserves and almost all of the oil sands in the WCSB. According to Statistics Canada, Alberta produces two-thirds of Canada’s oil and three-quarters of its natural gas.
Oil Forecasts
The Canada Oil & Gas Report forecasts that by 2013 Canada will consume 10.5 percent of the oil used by North America, while providing 34 percent of the supply.
North American oil consumption reached 21.7 million barrels per day in 2008. It is forecast to be around 21.8 million b/d by 2013. North American oil production in 2008 averaged 9.97 million b/d. It is forecast to be 11 million b/d by 2013. Net imports for the region should be 10.9 million b/d in 2013, down from 11.7 million b/d in 2008.
Money, Money, Money: Loonies and Minting Money in Canada
Money in Canada
Canadians call their dollar The Loonie. This has less to do with insanity than the picture of the common loon – a Canadian bird – on the back of the $1 coin. The coin on the left was cast in 1987, the year in which the Loonie was minted for the very first time. The $1 coin is composed of 91.5% nickel, 8.5% bronze plating.
The picture of Queen Elizabeth on the front of the $1 coin has not yet inspired the nickname of The Queenie or the Lizzie.
The Royal Canadian Mint is located in Winnipeg, Manitoba. At full production, 15 million coins can be produced there each day. Over 1 billion coins are minted each year in Winnipeg for use in cash transactions.
Canadian bank notes are produced by the Canadian Bank Note Company in Ottawa and are 100 percent cotton.
How Long Do Bank Notes Last in Canada?
According to the Bank of Canada, an average $5 or $10 bank note has a lifespan of 1 to 2 years. Higher value notes last longer. $20s last 2 to 4 years, $50s last 4 to 6 years and $100s last 7 to 9 years
One-quarter of your Life watching Television
TV Viewing Habits in Canada
Digital Home Canada: Canadian adults (18 and over) watch more TV than children, an average of 28.8 hours a week in a full year. This works out at almost 1,500 hours of television viewing each year, including an estimated 25,000 commercials.
Statistics Canada: The average Canadian watches 21 hours of television per week during Fall/Autumn.
Most TV is watched in Quebec (23.8 hours per week) and least in Alberta (19.4 hours per week).
Female Canadians watch more television than males — 25.6 vs 20.9 hours a week. Females watch more reality tv and soaps and males watch more sport.
One-quarter of your Life watching Television
If we assume each adult is awake 16 hours a day, or 5840 hours a year, then the 1,500 hours of TV watched by the average Canadian adult each year works out at just over one-quarter of their waking hours watching television.
Watching TV in the bathroom
Canadians spend 37 percent of their TV watching time watching Canadian produced programmes and 63 percent watching foreign programmes.
Half of Canadians have a TV in the main bedroom.
128,000 Canadian households have TVs in the bathroom! (Now we know why newspaper sales are declining!)
References and Further Reading
http://www.sharp.ca/pdf/release_LED_Survey_FactSheet_English_07_31_09.pdf
Abbreviations of Canadian Provinces
Canada’s thirteen provinces and territories have two capital letter abbreviations which are used by Canada Post to help in the automatic sorting of mail. This system has been in place since the 1990’s.
The abbreviations are the initials of the province or territory if it consists of two words, otherwise the initials are taken from the first letter of the province or territory and then one other suitable letter. The choice of abbreviation has taken into account the American abbreviations for each of its states, so that there is no duplication.
Other shortened forms of the Canadian provinces and territories names are used for everyday purposes. The most common abbreviation for each one is also listed in the table below.
Abbreviations of Canadian Provinces and Territories
| Province | Postal Abbreviation | Common Shortened Form |
| Alberta | AB | Alta. |
| British Columbia | BC | B.C. |
| Manitoba | MB | Man. |
| New Brunswick | NB | N.B. |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | NL | N.L. |
| Northwest Territories | NT | N.W.T. |
| Nova Scotia | NS | N.S. |
| Nunavut | NU | Nvt. |
| Ontario | ON | Ont. |
| Prince Edward Island | PE | P.E.I. |
| Quebec | QC | Que. |
| Saskatchewan | SK | Sask. |
| Yukon | YK | Y.T. |
Canada Lake Facts
Canada has more lake area than any other country in the world and so it should come as no surprise that roughly 20% of the world’s freshwater is to be found there.
There are an estimated 2 million lakes in Canada covering approximately 7.6% of Canada’s land area.
The largest lake wholly in Canada is Great Bear Lake, Northwest Territories, covering an area of 31,328 square kilometres.
The deepest lake in Canada is Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories, which is 614 metres deep.
Canadians love their lakes and they are many outdoor tourism and recreation activities around them such as fishing, kayaking, hiking and biking.
Largest Lake In Each Canadian province
| Province | Lake Name | Total Lake Area (square kilometres) |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | Smallwood Reservoir | 6,527 |
| New Brunswick | Grand Lake | 165 |
| Nova Scotia | Bras d’Or Lake | 1,099 |
| Quebec | Lac Mistassini | 2,335 |
| Ontario | Lake Huron | 36,000* |
| Manitoba | Lake Winnipeg | 24,387 |
| Saskatchewan | Lake Athabasca | 7,935 |
| Alberta | Lake Claire | 1,436 |
| British Columbia | Williston Lake | 1,761 |
| Yukon Territory | Kluane Lake | 409 |
| Northwest Territories | Great Bear Lake | 31,328 |
| Nunavut | Nettilling Lake | 5,542 |
Lakes lying across provincial boundaries are listed in the province with the greater lake area.
* Area of lake found in Canada.
Source: Natural Resources Canada and Environment Canada
Canadian Students’ Results vs Other Countries
Canadian students compare well with students in other countries according to the Programme For International Assessment (PISA) 2009.
The PISA educational assessment determined the skills and knowledge of 15 year old students in reading, math and science in each country. Over 5,000 students in each country sat a two hour long paper and pencil test and the results were compared and analyzed.
In Canada around 23,000 15-year-olds from about 1,000 schools participated across the ten provinces.
The results showed that Canadian students ranked fifth out of the sixty-five countries on the combined reading scale behind Shanghai-China, Korea, Finland and Hong Kong-China. Canada ranked eighth in math and seventh in science.
Results from the 2012 PISA study will be released in December 2013.
Top Countries on the PISA Scale
| Country | Reading Score | Math Score | Science Score |
| Shanghai China | 556 | 600 | 575 |
| Korea | 539 | 546 | 538 |
| Finland | 536 | 541 | 554 |
| Hong-Kong China | 533 | 555 | 549 |
| Singapore | 526 | 562 | 542 |
| Canada | 524 | 527 | 529 |
| New Zealand | 521 | 519 | 532 |
| Japan | 520 | 529 | 539 |
| Australia | 515 | 514 | 527 |
| Netherlands | 508 | 526 | 522 |
Looking at individual provinces, Alberta had the highest reading score, followed by Ontario, then British Columbia. These three provinces had reading scores above the Canadian average of 524. Students in Alberta also obtained the highest math and science scores.
Canadian Provincial PISA Results
| Province | Reading Score | Math Score | Science Score |
| Alberta | 533 | 529 | 545 |
| Ontario | 531 | 526 | 531 |
| British Columbia | 525 | 523 | 535 |
| Quebec | 522 | 543 | 524 |
| Nova Scotia | 516 | 512 | 523 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 506 | 503 | 518 |
| Saskatchewan | 504 | 506 | 513 |
| New Brunswick | 499 | 504 | 501 |
| Manitoba | 495 | 501 | 506 |
| Prince Edward Island | 486 | 487 | 495 |
Source: OECD and Statistics Canada