Aboriginal populations continue to grow in Canada, but at a somewhat slower rate, and they remain younger than the rest of the Canadian population.
According to new data from the 2021 census, there were 1.8 million Indigenous people in the country that year, representing 5% of the total Canadian population, up from 4.9% in 2016.
Between 2016 and 2021, Statistics Canada notes that the number of members of Indigenous populations grew by 9.4%, which is almost double the non-Indigenous population (5.3%). But that growth is now showing some slowdown, the census reveals.
First Peoples were also 8.2 years younger, on average, than the rest of the population. Their average age was 33.6 years, compared to 41.8 years for a non-Aboriginal person.
Statistics Canada also found that Aboriginal people were much more likely to live in low-income households.
To see in video