Census Shows a Changing Canada–and Mississauga

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Published August 2, 2017 at 6:10 pm

livingalone

Recently released census data shows a Canada (and Mississauga) that’s shifting, changing and embracing “new normals” as far as living and family situations are concerned.

The census–focused on families, households, marital statuses and language–reveals a changing social landscape where more people are choosing to forego to delay parenthood, stay with their parents longer or live alone.

Now, it appears there are more childless couples than ever before and more and more people are choosing solo living over partnering up. According to the data, 28.2 per cent of Canadian households are occupied by just one resident, while 21.3 per cent of Canadians are in common law relationships.

The data also indicates that a staggering number of adults between the ages of 20 and 34–34.7 per cent, to be exact–are living with their parents (which should surprise no one due to the escalating cost of housing).

As far as languages go, 18 per cent of Canadians speak both English and French and 19.4 per cent of Canadians speak more than one language at home. As for Canadians whose first language is neither English nor French, the data reveals that 7,974,375 people boast a different mother tongue.

As for Mississauga, the numbers are just as interesting.

The city boasts a population of 721,599 (a very slight increase from the 713,443 it clocked in at in 2011) and a total of 248,469 private dwellings. As far as solo residents go, 44,960 households are occupied by a single person. Data indicates that 63,670 households are occupied by two people, 46,625 are occupied by three, 49,335 are occupied by four and 36,320 are occupied by five or more.

In terms of marital status, data shows that 345,335 residents are married or in common law relationships, with 319,385 married couples and 25,950 common law couples. A vast 255,335 residents over the age of 15 are single (or at least not married to/living with their partner).

The census shows that 181,745 residents have never been married, 14,875 are separated, 29,690 are divorced and 29,030 are widowed.

As far as families go, 77,690 family units consist of just two people. In terms of larger families, 50,780 families contain three people, 51,605 contain four and 22,130 contain five or more. The data also shows that 28,760 families are headed by single female parents, while 6,045 families boast a single male parent. There are a total of 34,810 single parent families in the city.

As for families with children, the census reveals that 47,355 census family households have no children, while 129,025 do.

In terms of languages, the vast majority of residents–639,690–identify English as their first language. Only 8,250 say French is their first language, 7,885 speak both languages and 25,270 speak a different first language entirely.

As far as mother tongues go, 330,005 residents speak English, while 342,815 speak other languages. Common languages in Mississauga include Arabic (29,900), Tagalog (20,325), Polish (26,610), Punjabi (20,240), Urdu (38,575), Italian (12,690), Portuguese (15,980), Spanish (15,995) and Chinese languages, including Mandarin and Cantonese (42,745).

Over half the population (435,955) speaks English at home.

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