About Canada

Facts About Canada - Page Three

Living Standard
Only five countries have a higher standard of living than does Canada. These are the United States, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Germany and Japan. Canada ranks higher than the United States in terms of life expectancy, and higher than Japan in terms of education. Consequently, the United Nations has ranked Canada as the highest on its "Human Development Index." More than 65% of Canadians own their own homes. An even higher percentage of Canadians own durable goods such as automobiles, refrigerators, washing machines, televisions, telephones and radios. Telephone service is virtually universal in Canada. Sixteen million access lines bring service to 99 percent of Canadian homes. With one of the best telecommunications systems in the world, Canadians are increasingly hooking into the information highway. In 1995, close to 30 percent of households had home computers, and over 40 percent of those computers were equipped with modems for accessing the internet.

Health Care and Social Security
All Canadians have free access to health care, with the exception of dental services. Most people over 65 and social aid recipients receive the majority of their prescription drugs free of charge. According to the 1994 National Population Health Survey, 62% of the adult Canadian population rated their health as excellent or very good. Also in 1994, 77% of Canadian adults reported that they had consulted a physician at least once in the previous year. Fifty-five percent reported having visited a dentist, 35% an eye specialist, and 27% had seen other types of health specialists.

Canadian governments spent an estimated $48 billion on health care in 1993-94. This means a total of almost $1,700 was spent on health services for each Canadian. This placed Canada as second in the world to the United States in terms of health care expenditures. Canada also has an extensive social security network including old age pension, family allowance, unemployment insurance and welfare.

First Nations
In 1991, 533 000 Canadians were either status or non-status Indians. Four percent of Canadians (over one million Canadians) report Aboriginal ancestry. However, only 626,000 individuals identify themselves exclusively as members of the three Aboriginal groups recognized by the Constitution Act, 1982: North American Indian (460 680), Inuit (36 215) or Metis (135 265). Among these groups, 171,000 people still speak one of the more than 50 remaining Aboriginal languages.

Ontario had the highest concentration of Aboriginal peoples -- 243550 -- but the Northwest Territories had the highest proportion: more than 60 percent of its population is of Aboriginal descent. Only 295 032 Canadian Aboriginal live on reserves or in settlements.

Religion
The majority of Canadians are Christian. According to the 1991 census, 12.3 million Canadians identified themselves as Catholics and 9.8 million as Protestants. Other religions include Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhs and Buddhism. About 12% of Canadians (3.3 million) stated that they had no religious affiliation whatsoever. This represents a 90% increase since 1981.

Languages
Census data from 1991 indicates English as the mother tongue of 16.1 million Canadians, and French, the language of 6.5 million. These are Canada's two official languages. However, many Canadians have a mother tongue other than English or French, including Italian, Chinese, German, Portuguese, Polish, Ukrainian, Dutch, Greek or other languages. In 1991, Aboriginal languages were reported as mother tongue by 193 000 Canadians. English-French bilingualism increased dramatically within Canada from 1951 to 1991. The number of bilingual Canadians more than doubled during this period, rising from 1.7 million to 4.4 million, while the proportion rose from 12% to 16%

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