Statistics Canada
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Aboriginal people: A young and urban population

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Canada’s Aboriginal population is far younger than its non-Aboriginal one. In 2001, the median age of our Aboriginal population was 24.7, or 13 years younger than the median age of the non-Aboriginal population.

Many Aboriginal people live in urban areas. In 2001, approximately 700,000 lived off reserve—about 71% of the country’s entire Aboriginal population. Most Aboriginal people living off reserve lived in an urban area. Close to half of the off-reserve Aboriginal population was under 25, compared with 32% of the non-Aboriginal population.

In general, the Aboriginal population living off reserve reports being in poorer health than the Canadian population overall, but this discrepancy is negligible in the case of young adults. Approximately 69% of Aboriginal people aged 15 to 24 years and living off reserve claimed to be in very good or excellent health, compared with 71% of the general population in the same age group. Diabetes and chronic illnesses such as arthritis, rheumatism, high blood pressure and asthma are more widespread in the Aboriginal population living off reserve than in Canada’s population as a whole.

Chart: Population reporting Aboriginal identity, by age group, 2001Education levels have increased among Aboriginal people aged 25 to 44 years. A growing proportion has completed postsecondary studies. However, obstacles such as family and financial responsibilities are preventing many Aboriginal people from completing postsecondary education.

Aboriginal children are much more likely to live in single-parent families than are non-Aboriginal children. In 2001, 32% of Aboriginal children aged 14 or under and living on reserve lived in a single-parent family. This proportion reached 46% among those living in a census metropolitan area. By contrast, 17% of non-Aboriginal children lived in a single-parent family.