No. 6 - In cities, towns and elsewhere

The large majority - 76% in 1996 - of Canadian seniors live in an area classified as urban. Seniors, however, are more likely than younger people to live in a rural area: 24% versus 21%. Seniors are also more likely to reside in smaller urban areas.

Victoria, B.C. and the St. Catharines-Niagara area in Ontario currently share the title of Canada's Senior Capital, as they have higher concentrations of people aged 65 and over than all other major urban areas. In 2000, 17% of all residents of both Victoria and St. Catharines-Niagara were seniors, while the next highest figures were 15% in Thunder Bay and Trois-Rivières and 14% in Hamilton.

At the other end of the scale, seniors made up only 10% of people in each of St. John's, Edmonton, Halifax and Oshawa and just 9% of those in Calgary.

Seniors also made up 13% of residents of Montréal, 12% of those in Vancouver, and 11% of those in Toronto in 2000. That year, 31% of all seniors in Canada lived in one of the three largest urban areas.

Seniors as a percentage of the population in census metropolitan areas, 2000

Source: Statistics Canada