Residential care facilities

2002/2003 and 2003/2004

Women outnumbered men by a ratio of more than two to one in Canada's residential care facilities for seniors in 2003/2004.

Data for all provinces and territories, except Quebec, show that nearly 103,500 women lived in homes for the aged, compared with just under 42,400 men. (The distribution of residents of facilities in Quebec by age group and sex was not available.)

Some 5.8% of women aged 65 or older lived in such facilities in 2003/2004, double the proportion of 2.8% among their male counterparts. These results follow the trend of previous years.

There were 1,941 homes for the aged in 2003/2004 that represented 46% of the national total of 4,185 residential care facilities in operation. The second largest group of residential care facilities consisted of 1,936 facilities for people with mental disorders and served just over 32,000 residents.

A third miscellaneous category, which served just under 8,000 residents, includes such facilities as homes for transient people and homes for emotionally disturbed children.

In total, these three types of facilities had 219,472 residents, up a marginal 1.1% from 2002/2003, which was similar to the trend over the last five years, but lower than the 2.9% increase the preceding year. They employed some 109,182 full-time and 85,113 part-time personnel who accumulated 382 million paid hours.

In contrast with the marginal gain in residents, operating revenues increased 6.6% to $11.7 billion in 2003/2004, while expenditures rose 6.1% to $11.6 billion. These increases are slightly lower than the trend observed over the last five years in which the average annual increase was 6.7% in expenditures and 6.8% in revenues.

Homes for the aged alone generated $9 billion in revenue, while the facilities for people with mental disorders generated only $2 billion in revenue. The other facilities grouped in the "other" category brought in a little less than $500 million.

The cost for a resident to live in a home for the aged amounted to $50,126 a year on average, or $136.76 a day. In facilities for people with mental disorders, the average cost was $64,538 a year, or $175.76 a day.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 3210.

The publication Residential Care Facilities (83-237-XIE, free) is now available online from the Our products and services page of our website.

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Baudelaire Augustin (613-951-6083; baudelaire.augustin@statcan.gc.ca) or Richard Trudeau (613-951-8782; richard.trudeau@statcan.gc.ca). For general information, contact Client Services (613-951-1746; fax: 613-951-4198; hd-ds@statcan.gc.ca), Health Statistics Division.