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Back to school… by the numbers

2007

Elementary and secondary enrolment

5.3 million — The total number of students enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools in Canada in 2004/2005.

Here are the public elementary and secondary school enrolment numbers for the 2004/2005 school year in the provinces and territories:

79,503 — The number of students enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools in Newfoundland & Labrador.

22,393 — The number of students enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools in Prince Edward Island.

145,396 — The number of students enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools in Nova Scotia.

117,145 — The number of students enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools in New Brunswick.

1,233,053 — The number of students enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools in Quebec.

2,123,904 — The number of students enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools in Ontario.

184,352 — The number of students enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools in Manitoba.

176,069 — The number of students enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools in Saskatchewan.

550,983 — The number of students enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools in Alberta.

596,174 — The number of students enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools in British Columbia.

5,459 — The number of students enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools in Yukon.

9,607 — The number of students enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools in the Northwest Territories.

9,354 — The number of students enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools in Nunavut.

Sources: “Public school indicators”, The Daily, Thursday, August 30, 2007; Summary Public School Indicators for the Provinces and Territories, 1998-1999 to 2004-2005.

University enrolment

1.01 million — The record number of students enrolled in Canadian universities in 2004/2005. This was a 2.1% increase over the previous year and 19.7% higher compared with 1999/2000.

Most of the growth in 2004/2005 was fuelled by students aged 18 to 24—the “echo-boom” generation or “generation Y”—whose numbers increased 2.9% to a little more than 654,000. This age group accounted for 64% of total enrolment, up from 59% a decade earlier.

59% — The percentage of undergraduates who were women in 2004/2005. Women represented 51% of graduate students.

460,300 — The number of female undergraduate students, up 1.7% from the previous year.

429,000 — The number of male undergrads, up 2.4% from the previous year.

75,200 — The record number of students from other countries enrolled at Canadian universities in 2004/2005, up 7.3% from the previous year. Half of the foreign students were from Asia, and China accounted for almost 46.4% of these Asian students.

Source: “University enrolment”, The Daily, Tuesday, November 7, 2006.

Updated university enrolment data for 2005/2006 will be available in November.

The teaching profession

544,500 — The approximate number of teachers and professors in Canada as of July 2007. Of those, 36% were men and 64% were women. The majority were full-time (460,200, or 84%).

$29.14 — The average hourly salary earned by teachers and professors in Canada as of July 2007.

Source: CANSIM, table 282-0069 (Labour Force Survey).

Tuition fees for undergrads

$4,347 — The average amount that undergraduate students paid in tuition fees for the 2006/2007 academic year, up from $4,211 the year before.

Source: “University tuition fees”, The Daily, Friday, September 1, 2006.

How much does it cost to educate a student in the public system?

$9,040 — The average cost of educating a student (in current dollars) in 2004/2005. This is up 28% from 1998/1999, when it cost $7,077.

Among the provinces, the annual cost per student in 2004/2005 ranged from a maximum of more than $9,000 in Ontario, Manitoba and Alberta to a minimum of $7,600 in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. In the territories, spending per student was above $15,000 in the Yukon and more than $13,000 in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.

In most of the provinces and territories, the total expenditures per student (in current dollars) rose more than twice as quickly as inflation. Ontario and British Columbia had the smallest differences between total expenditures per student and inflation, at only 8% and 5% respectively.

Sources: “Public school indicators”, The Daily, Thursday, August 30, 2007; Summary Public School Indicators for the Provinces and Territories, 1998-1999 to 2004-2005.

School board revenue sources

$37.7 billion — The total revenues of school boards in Canada in 2003.

30% — The proportion of total school board revenues derived from local taxation ($11.3 billion).

64% — The proportion of total school board revenues derived from provincial governments ($24.1 billion).

6% — The proportion of total school board revenues derived from the federal government, student and other school fees, and other private sector sources ($2.4 billion).

Source: CANSIM, table 478-0010 (Survey of Uniform Financial System - School Boards).

Private elementary and secondary school revenue sources

$2.7 billion — The total revenues of private elementary and secondary schools in Canada in 2002/2003.

25% — The proportion of total revenues of private elementary and secondary schools in Canada derived from government sources ($697 million).

56% — The proportion of total revenues of private elementary and secondary schools in Canada derived from fees ($1.5 billion).

19% — The proportion of total revenues of private elementary and secondary schools in Canada derived from other revenue sources and transfers from school boards ($521 million).

Source: CANSIM, table 478-0016 (Survey of Financial Statistics of Private Elementary and Secondary Schools).

How many students are going back to school?

The following table from the 2006 Census shows the number of people in the school-aged population, by age and sex:

Age group	Total - sex	Male	Female
Under 5 years	1,690,540	864,600	825,940
5 to 9 years	1,809,370	926,860	882,515
10 to 14 years	2,079,925	1,065,865	1,014,065
15 to 24 years	4,220,875	2,143,235	2,077,645

Sources: 2006 Census, Age Groups (13) and Sex (3) for the Population of Canada, Provinces and Territories, 1921 to 2006 Censuses; Portrait of the Canadian Population in 2006, by Age and Sex.

Don’t bug me, I’m busy!

Despite the stereotypical image of nonchalant, lounging teenagers, a Statistics Canada study shows that many teens carry a heavier load than you may think.

In fact, according to the study “The busy lives of teens” found in Perspectives on Labour and Income, when compared with nine other OECD countries, Canadian teens ranked first in terms of average hours spent on unpaid and paid labour during the school week.

After school attendance, homework was the most time-consuming unpaid activity for teens, with 60% doing an average of 2 hours and 20 minutes every day.

9.2hours — The amount of time teens devoted to school work, homework, paid work and housework on school days in Canada in 2005.

3.5hours — The amount of time teens devoted to school work, homework, paid work and housework on weekends in Canada in 2005.

Source: “Study: The busy lives of teens”, The Daily, Wednesday, May 23, 2007.

It’s never too late to go back to school…

8% — The increase, on average, of the wages of young men who went back to school and obtained a post-secondary certificate, compared with their counterparts who did not go back to school.

10% — The increase, on average, of the wages young women who went back to school and obtained a post-secondary certificate, compared with their counterparts who did not go back to school.

Source: “Study: Adult education and its impact on earnings”, The Daily, Friday, March 24, 2006.

One grade level — The average skill loss experienced by most Canadian adults over their lifetime.

Literacy is not a static commodity acquired in youth and maintained throughout life. The loss of literacy skills in Canada appears to be a gradual process that begins at the age of about 25, peaks at around 40, and tapers off during late middle age (55).

Source: “Study: Gaining and losing literacy skills over the life course”, The Daily, Friday, July 6, 2007.

Shopping for back to school

For some kids, “back to school” may mean it is time to get outfitted with an entire new wardrobe, or it may mean replacing clothes that they have outgrown or worn out during the summer months.

And let’s not forget all the new backpacks, books, notebooks, pencils, pens, and so on that the new school year requires.

Here are some selected figures for this period last year from the Quarterly Retail Commodity Survey. It’s a safe bet some of these purchases were made in preparation for the new school year.

Here are the total sales across Canada in the third quarter of 2006 for:

Girls’ clothing and accessories: $249.9 million
Boys’ clothing and accessories: $229.2 million
Unisex clothing: $106.9 million
Computer hardware and software: $1.1 billion
Books, newspapers, and other periodicals: $749.6 million
Stationery, office supplies, cards, gift wrap and party supplies: $921.7 million

Source: CANSIM, table 080-0018 (Quarterly Retail Commodity Survey).

A quick lesson on census education data

Education data were first collected in the 1827 Census of Lower Canada and the 1842 Census of Upper Canada. The data consisted of counts of schools and pupils. In 1871 respondents aged 20 years or more were asked if they could read or write. In 1941 the census introduced a question on completed years of schooling and in 1971 new questions asked for details on post-secondary education.

Today, education and educational attainment are seen to be closely related to both the quality of life of Canadians (in such areas as income, work, health and participation in the community) and the knowledge and skills available in the Canadian labour force. Census education data are widely used by federal departments and agencies, provincial and territorial governments, municipalities, educational institutions, researchers, and academics. This information feeds both labour market analysis and education-planning needs. Researchers also turn to the census for information on the educational characteristics of immigrants, Aboriginal peoples, official language minorities, and other groups.

The new education questions in the census address issues of relevance and data quality and modify the data to reflect the education context at the beginning of the 21^st century. A further result of the revisions is the collection of new information that will support analysis of a number of emerging issues, relating to immigration, for example, and to inter-provincial flows of individuals with different levels of educational attainment.

Updating the education module also meant that some questions would necessarily no longer be included in the census. In some cases, that was because a new question increased the precision of the information that was collected (replacing years of schooling with credentials earned, for example). In other cases, the same information was already available from other Statistics Canada data sources. (For example, the Labour Force survey collects data on individuals with some postsecondary education and on full-time/part-time student status.)

Source: “Education questions on the 2006 Census of Population: New questions for a new century” in Education Matters.

Watch for 2006 Census data on Education (including analysis of the new education questions) in The Daily on Tuesday, March 4, 2008.

Education matters!

Education Matters is a free online periodical that provides summary information on issues and gives access to education indicators and Canadian education analysis. It presents information, statistics and analysis in a non-technical, highly readable format for teachers, students, parents, education associations, researchers and policy makers. It is published bimonthly by Statistics Canada's Centre for Education Statistics.

Helpful hints

Are you a student looking for help with your data projects, or looking for information about Canada, its people and its economy? Are you an education professional looking for ideas for lesson plans? You can learn all about information and tools for teachers and students in the Learning Resources module on our website.

For more sources of data and analysis on education, be sure to consult Education, training and learning in Statistics Canada’s Statistics by subject module.

Data are also available by province or territory.

For information on this page or more data, contact Media Relations.