Rural and urban educational attainment: Patterns and trends

Educational attainment improved steadily in Canada from 1981 to 1996, but the gap between Canada's urban and rural regions persisted, according to a new analysis bulletin.

Using census data, the bulletin found a mixed pattern of educational attainment. On average, rural regions did not close their educational gap with the more urbanized regions during the 15-year period.

However, within both rural and urban areas, the disparities decreased among census divisions, which are equivalent to counties and regional municipalities. Thus, the most disadvantaged census divisions were less disadvantaged, relatively, at the end of the 15-year period.

In terms of the share of the population with less than Grade 9 education, the rural-urban gap closed considerably. But by 1996, individuals with only primary level education were more concentrated in rural areas.

The share of the population with some post-secondary education increased in all regions. Again, the gap between urban and rural persisted but, importantly, the relative concentration in urban areas did not increase. Thus, rural areas were able to increase at the same pace as urban areas over the 15-year period.

Across census divisions, educational attainment showed a marked pattern. First, higher levels of educational attainment remain associated with cities.

More generally, an educational divide exists in Canada. That is, higher educational attainment was found in the southern and western regions of Canada, and a lower level of educational attainment was found in northern and eastern regions of Canada.

The role and potential of educational enhancement strategies for communities and regions, and in particular for rural and remote regions, is a thorny issue. On the one hand, education has a crucial role to play in community development. On the other hand, some areas face several challenges in enhancing their level of human capital.

The Rural and small town Canada analysis bulletin, Vol. 4, no. 5, titled Rural and urban educational attainment: An investigation of patterns and trends, 1981-1996 (21-006-XIE, free) is now available on Statistics Canada's website (). From the Our products and services page, under Browse our Internet publications, choose Free, then Population and demography.

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Alessandro Alasia (613-951-1204; alessandro.alasia@statcan.gc.ca), Agriculture Division.