Seniors comprise more than one in five people in the Thunder Bay area

THUNDER BAY — More than one out of every five residents of the Thunder Bay area are 65 years old or older.

According to Statistics Canada, 22 per cent of the Thunder Bay Census Metropolitan Area population falls into that category.

That's about 27,000 people out of a CMA population of just over 123,000 counted in the 2021 census.

It's an increase of almost 13 per cent from the 2016 census.

This group is comprised of 14,470 women and 12,580 men.

The trend to an aging population follows the pattern established across the country, but Thunder Bay has a slightly older population than Canada as a whole.

About 19 per cent of all Canadians are 65 or older.

The oldest city is Trois Rivieres, QC where nearly 26 per cent of residents are at least 65, compared within only 13.5 per cent in Calgary.

Statistics Canada describes older Canadians as a growing economic and politically influential group, which is "staying healthier, active and involved for longer."

At the other end of the age scale, the number of children aged 14 and under in the Thunder Bay CMA currently sits at 17,655, or 14 per cent of the population.

This group includes 9,095 boys and 8,560 girls.

The figure is relatively unchanged from the 2016 census, but is down considerably from 2006 when it was greater than 20,000.