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July 19, 2002
Nunavuts ratio of
men to women the highest in Canada
Nunavuts population
is the youngest in Canada, according to data from the 2001 census released by
Statistics Canada this week.
As of May 15, 2001, Nunavuts
median age was 22.1 years, compared with the national average of 37.6. (Median
age is the point where exactly half the population is older and half is younger.)
Iqaluits median population
was 28.3 years.
In addition, Nunavut, the
Northwest Territories and the Yukon were the only jurisdictions in the country
where men outnumbered women. In Nunavut, there were 13,840 men and 12,910 women,
for a ratio of 107.2 men for every 100 women the highest in Canada.
Nunavuts low median
age is explained, for the most part, by its high fertility rate, Statistics
Canada said in a report.
"Because of high fertility,
the age distribution is completely different in Nunavut than in the rest of
Canada," the report said.
People 19 and under made
up 47 per cent of the territorys population in 2001, the year the census
was taken. People between the ages of 20 and 64 made up 51 per cent of the population.
People 65 and over accounted
for only two per cent.
Nationally, the 19-and-under
age group makes up 26 per cent of the population, people aged 20 to 64 make
up 61 per cent and people 65 and over make up 13 per cent of the population.
In the next 10 years, Nunavuts
population is expected to increase by 17 per cent, to 31,300.
During this period of growth,
the population of children aged five to 12 is expected to decline by 22 per
cent. The number of people aged 45 to 64 is expected to soar by 68 per cent.
In addition, the population
of senior citizens is expected to double from 600 last year to 1,150 in 2011.
Still, they will represent only four per cent of the population.
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