Student worksheet
Housing arrangements of the elderly in Canada

See How-To - User guide for the Search Census module for more help.

1. Read the following articles:
   
   • Large increase in number of one-person households
   • More seniors living with a spouse, more living alone and fewer living in health care institutions
   • Seniors aged 85 and over: More living alone in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, more living in health care institutions in Quebec
   
   
2. Generate a graph and a table, using the following instructions:
   • From the E-STAT sidebar, select Search Censuses.

   How to find a Census table using Search Censuses

3. Under Select a Census, choose 2006 Census.
4. At the Database selection page, choose 2006 Census of Population (Provinces, Census Divisions, Municipalities).
5. At the Profile selection page, choose 2006 Cumulative Profile.

   How to select a geography

6. At the selection page, under Geography, select 2006 — Provinces and Territories in Canada

   How to select your characteristic

   • Under Characteristics, select:
     • Living with relatives, persons not in census families aged 65 years and over.
     • Living with non-relatives only, persons not in census families aged 65 years and over
     • Living alone, persons not in census families aged 65 years and over.
     • Number of census family persons aged 65 years and over.
   • Under output format, select: Bar Chart.
   • Switch to Table Areas as Rows.
   • Examine both the graph and the table.


7. Answer the following questions in preparation for discussion in a small group:
   1. For those seniors living with relatives, what type of relative do you think this would usually be?
   2. What province has the highest number of seniors living with relatives, with non relatives. Explain.
   3. What province has the highest number of seniors living alone. Explain.
   4. Compare the graph and the table. Which format displays the information the best? Why?
   5. In Ontario, what percentage of persons 65 years and over belong to a census family? Would you expect this percentage to be higher or lower for those 85 years and over? Why?
   6. The likelihood of seniors living with members of their immediate family declines sharply in older age groups. Why?
   7. In the coming years, the elderly, who have had fewer children than previously, will not always have children to care for them. Besides the possibilities mentioned here (living with relatives or with friends), what options will they have? What kind of pressures will this situation put on society and government?


8. In a small group of three or four members, review your questions and answers and draw some logical and accurate conclusions.

Hand in your group's conclusions.