Statistics Canada's estimates for Sustainable Development Goal 9.1.1: Rural Access Index
Released: 2023-07-11
Statistics Canada's estimates for Sustainable Development Goal 9.1.1: Rural Access Index
The Rural Access Index (RAI) measures the transportation connectivity of a country's rural population and is calculated as the proportion of the rural population living within two kilometres of an all-season road.
The Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut have lower Rural Access Index estimates
Except for the territories, RAI values range from 95.0% (British Columbia) to 99.9% (Prince Edward Island).
The RAI has been adopted as Indicator 9.1.1 under Target 9.1 of the global Sustainable Development Goals framework.
Rural Access Index calculation for Canada
The national RAI value for Canada is estimated at 97.7%.
This estimate is based on a spatial analysis using data from the 2021 Census of Population and the road network geography in the 2021 Road Network File (RNF). The analysis was performed at the dissemination-block level with the 2021 Census data in the Geographic Attribute File for the 2021 census year. This is the first iteration of the calculation for this indicator published by Statistics Canada.
The 2021 Census of Population Dictionary defines rural areas as "all territory lying outside population centres" and population centres as areas with "a population of at least 1,000 and a population density of 400 persons or more per square kilometre." According to these definitions, 6.6 million people lived in rural areas in 2021 (Population growth in Canada's rural areas, 2016 to 2021).
For the current RAI calculation, all elements of the road network in the RNF were considered to be all season, as no attribute differentiates between all-season and seasonal roads. Hence, the resulting values are probably an overestimation of the rural population living within two kilometres of an all-season road.
Sustainable Development Goals
On January 1, 2016, the world officially began implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development—the United Nations' transformative plan of action that addresses urgent global challenges over the next 15 years. The plan is based on 17 specific sustainable development goals.
The Canadian Indicator Framework is an example of how Statistics Canada supports the reporting on the Global Goals for Sustainable Development. This release will be used in helping to measure the following goal:
Note to readers
This is the first release for this indicator. The estimates and methodology are subject to change in future releases.
Methodology
The process used all dissemination blocks (DBs) outside population centres as the geographic scope for rural areas. A two-kilometre buffer zone was created around the road network data. This zone was intersected with the selected DBs to calculate the proportion of the total area within the buffer zone for each DB. The rural population living within the two-kilometre buffer zone was calculated by multiplying the area proportion of the DB by the total population of the DB. This was then aggregated by census subdivision. The sum of these numbers is the provincial or territorial Rural Access Index values.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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