Life & Style

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Manitoba's got a little bit younger

Immigration, high fertility rate and fewer leaving credited for lower median age

By: Larry Kusch

Posted: 11/28/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

A steady stream of international immigrants, a relatively high fertility rate and fewer people leaving for greener pastures made Manitoba a little younger last year while the country aged.

According to Statistics Canada, the median age in Manitoba edged slightly downward to 37.7 on July 1, compared with 37.8 the previous year, while across Canada, it rose to 39.5 years old from 39.3.

And for the first time since 1971, when such records started being kept, the percentage of seniors in Manitoba fell below the national proportion -- 13.8 per cent in Manitoba versus 13.9 per cent in Canada. Compare that to 1981, when 11.8 per cent of Manitoba's population was 65 or older, while the Canadian figure was 9.6 per cent.

"We're definitely changing. We're a younger province," said Jacqueline Storen, head demographic and social statistician with the Manitoba Bureau of Statistics.

Manitoba tied Saskatchewan for the second-youngest population in the country. Only Alberta's population -- with a median age of 35.6 -- was lower.

Storen said people immigrating to Manitoba tend to be young with young children and the province is losing far fewer young people to interprovincial migration than it used to. Meanwhile, the province's birth rate is relatively high because of higher fertility rates among aboriginal and immigrant people.

Graham Starmer, president of the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce, said the provincial economy is stable and young people see lots of potential for jobs as a large group of older workers nears retirement.

"I think that in the last couple of years, Manitoba has become a more vibrant place," he said. "There's more opportunity out there for younger people."

Winnipeg is also becoming a more attractive city because of recent improvements to the downtown, Starmer said. Meanwhile, housing and other living costs are lower here.

Immigrants from China and India who used to treat Winnipeg as a pit stop before moving to other cities, such as Toronto and Vancouver, are putting down roots here, Starmer said. "I think they see the opportunity here now."

As of July 1, there were almost 1.3 million people aged 80 and over in the Canadian population. Of those, an estimated 6,000 were 100 or older.

In 2001, the earliest year for which population estimates of centenarians are available, they numbered 3,400.

By the 2030s, there could be 15,000 people at or above the century mark.

The report said Canada's youngest population was in Nunavut, where the median age in July was 24.2 years and where children under 15 made up almost a third of the population.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 28, 2009 A3

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