KEY FACTS

Joined Commonwealth: 1931 (Statute of Westminster)
Population: 34,838,000 (2012)
GDP p.c. growth: 1.3% p.a. 1990–2012
UN HDI 2012: world ranking 11
Official languages: English, French
Time: GMT minus 8–3hr
Currency: Canadian dollar (C$)

Geography

Area: 9,976,000 sq km
Coastline: 202,100 km
Capital: Ottawa

The second largest country in the world, Canada comprises the northern half of the North American continent, bordering with the USA to the south and north-west (Alaska). It is bounded by three oceans: the Pacific to the west; the Arctic to the north; and the Atlantic to the east. Indented shores and numerous islands (some very large) give it the longest coastline of any country at 202,100 km. Cape Columbia on Ellesmere Island is 768 km from the North Pole.

Canada is a federation of ten provinces and three territories. The provinces (and provincial capitals) are: Alberta (Edmonton), British Columbia (Victoria), Manitoba (Winnipeg), New Brunswick (Fredericton), Newfoundland and Labrador (St John’s), Nova Scotia (Halifax), Ontario (Toronto), Prince Edward Island (Charlottetown), Québec (Québec), Saskatchewan (Regina); and the territories (and capitals): Northwest Territories (Yellowknife), Nunavut (Iqaluit) and Yukon (Whitehorse). Nunavut was formed in April 1999 – from the eastern and central parts of the Northwest Territories – as a semiautonomous region for the Inuit people.

Main towns: 

Ottawa (capital, Ontario, pop. 879,400 in 2010), Toronto (Ontario, 5.05m), Montréal (Québec, 3.43m), Vancouver (British Columbia, 2.04m), Calgary (Alberta, 1.08m), Edmonton (Alberta, 928,800), Québec (676,900), Hamilton (Ontario, 668,000), Winnipeg (Manitoba, 649,200), Halifax (Nova Scotia, 287,100), Saskatoon (Saskatchewan, 205,700), Regina (Saskatchewan, 178,800), St John’s (Newfoundland and Labrador, 153,800), Fredericton (New Brunswick, 57,800) and Charlottetown (Prince Edward Island, 39,700).

Society

KEY FACTS 2012

Population per sq km: 3.5
Life expectancy: 81 years

Population:

34,838,000 (2012); 81 per cent of people live in urban areas and 44 per cent in urban agglomerations of more than one million people; growth 1.0 per cent p.a. 1990–2012; birth rate 11 per 1,000 people (17 in 1970); life expectancy 81 years (73 in 1970). Population density is among the lowest in the world, but large areas are climatically hostile, and 85 per cent of Canadians live within 350 km of the US border. The 2001 census found that about 48 per cent of the population were of British or Irish origin, 16 per cent of French origin, nine per cent German, 4.3 per cent Italian, 3.7 per cent Chinese, 3.6 per cent Ukrainian, and 3.4 per cent Native American. More than 200,000 immigrants arrive each year from more than 150 countries. The provinces with the largest populations are Ontario (11.4 million; 38 per cent of the total), Québec (7.2 million; 24 per cent) and British Columbia (3.9 million; 13 per cent).

Language:

Official languages are English and French; English is the mother-tongue of 57 per cent and French 22 per cent (2006 census). In the prairies, the most common non-official mother tongue is German; in central Canada, Italian; in British Columbia, Chinese; in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, Inuktitut; in the Yukon, the Athapaskan languages of the Dene family; and in the Atlantic region, Micmac. Canada’s aboriginal people speak some 50 languages belonging to 11 distinct linguistic families.

Education:

Public spending on education was six per cent of GDP in 2010. Education policy varies with province but the period of compulsory education generally starts at the age of six. Most primary and secondary schooling is publicly funded. The school year starts in September. Post-secondary education expanded rapidly during the 1980s and 1990s; women have shown the faster increase, and now outnumber men. The Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada represents 98 Canadian public and private not-for-profit universities and university-degree-level colleges (2013). There is virtually no illiteracy among people aged 15–24. There are more than 1,000 public libraries, containing more than 70 million volumes. Canada was a founder member of the Commonwealth in 1931 when its independence was recognised under the Statute of Westminster, and Arnold Smith of Canada was the first Commonwealth Secretary-General (1965–75). Canada hosted the Third Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers in Ottawa, Ontario, in 1964 and the 14th Conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 2000.