The population of Quebec is aging faster than the rest of Canada, but this phenomenon is accelerating outside the metropolis. In some cities across the province, seniors now make up more than 30% of the population.
Indeed, several medium-sized municipalities are on the way to dethroning cities considered retirement havens, notably the city of Victoria, in British Columbia, but not necessarily for the same reasons.
An analysis carried out by the Association for Canadian Studies shows that while nearly one in five Quebecers (19% in 2021) is now over the age of 65, this is the case for 23.3% of the population. out of Montreal.
Aging has accelerated in particular in Shawinigan, Sorel-Tracy, Magog and Hudson, where the proportion of residents over 65 now exceeds 30%, according to the latest Statistics Canada data, published on April 27.
In barely five years (between 2016 and 2021), the proportion of seniors has also jumped by more than four percentage points in Thetford Mines (32.5%), Joliette (28.8%), Rivière-du -Loup (28.3%), Cowansville and Lachute (28.2% respectively).
In the small town of Saint-Charles-Borromée, 38.8% of the population is over 65 years old.
According to Jack Jedwab, president of the Association for Canadian Studies, this phenomenon is essentially explained by the weak contribution of immigration in certain regions and a plummeting birth rate. “Interprovincial migration also plays a factor. There are more young people leaving these towns in the regions for the big centres,” he says.
Even Quebec City is home to a proportion of seniors (22.8%) flirting with that observed in Victoria, considered a place of retirement par excellence (23.4%). In the metropolitan area, the influx of newcomers, often young families, is making the demographic pyramid younger (18% aged 65 and over).
Postponed retirements
The aging of several regions leads to the retention of older people in employment, adds Mr. Jedwab. “It has an impact on our health service policies, but also on our employment policies,” he says. These new realities must be taken into account. »
For now, Quebec is one of the provinces where workers are retiring the earliest from the labor market, exacerbating the current labor shortage. While the employment rate among those over 60 fluctuates around 36.2% in Quebec, it reaches 42% in the Maritimes and 63% in Ireland. In France, barely more than 20% of workers are still at work at this age.
According to Yves Carrière, Associate Professor in the Department of Demography at the Université de Montréal, the accentuated aging of the population in certain regions is the result of various phenomena. “It doesn’t have the same impact everywhere. In Victoria, people are mostly active and in good physical and financial health, which is not always the case in certain remote regions of Quebec. But in other regions, such as the Laurentians, aging is notably due to the influx of young active retirees,” he says.
This aging will increase in 2022 when the largest cohort in the Quebec population, that of post-war babies, will reach the age of 65, adds Mr. Carrière.
“But these people don’t have the same profile as those of 30 years ago. A third of men are still active at this age. It is certain that companies will have to adapt by providing retention bonuses for older workers, flexibility and adapted schedules, or improve their general productivity. »