No. 4 - More women than men

Women constitute a particularly large share of the total senior population in Canada. In 2000, 57% of all people aged 65 and over were female, whereas women made up only 51% of those aged 55-64, and less than half of the population in age groups below age 55.

The share of the senior population accounted for by women is even higher in older age ranges. Indeed, in 2000, women made up 70% of all persons aged 85 and older and 60% of those aged 75-84, while they made up 53% of people aged 65-74.

The fact that senior women outnumber senior men, however, is a relatively new phenomenon. As recently as the 1950s, there were more senior men than women. During the 1960s and 1970s, though, the number of women aged 65 and over grew much more rapidly than the number of men in this age range, in large part because the average life expectancy of women increased much more rapidly than did that of men in this period.

Gains in the life expectancy of senior men and women, however, have evened out in recent decades. As a result, the share of the senior population accounted for by women is expected to remain fairly stable over the course of the next several decades. In 2051, for example, women are projected to make up 55% of the overall senior population, a figure slightly below the current level.

Women as a percentage of the population, 2000

Source: Statistics Canada