Stouffville fastest growing community: Census

Stouffville Sun-Tribune
January 21, 2014
By Sean Pearce

Data from the 2011 census and the National Household Survey proves the face of our communities is changing.

The staff report, penned by York Region’s director of strategies and partnerships Lisa Gonsalves, notes the region’s population grew by 15.7 per cent between 2006 and 2011, outpacing Ontario and Canada, which experienced growth rates of 5.7 per cent and 5.9 per cent, respectively.

York is the fastest growing municipality in the GTA and Whitchurch-Stouffville stands as the fastest growing municipality in the region, experiencing a 54.5-per-cent population expansion between 2006 and 2011, although 75 per cent of York residents reside in Markham, Vaughan or Richmond Hill and those municipalities continue to drive the lion’s share of growth.

The region experienced growth in all age cohorts from 2006 to 2011, but the ranks of older residents are increasing at a faster rate with the 60 to 64, 80 to 84 and 85 and over groups outpacing all other categories.

At the same time, couples with children continue to be the pre-dominant household type found in the region although other kinds of households, such as childless couples and lone-parent families, are on the rise.

The population growth coupled with increases in the number of older residents and diversification of family types will require a “balance of investments and strategic thinking” to determine how best to serve the public at various stages in their lives, Ms Gonsalves writes.

As such, local-tier municipalities will need to be flexible to meet the needs of their changing populations, she said.

Apart from ages and family types, the survey and census found the region was home to some 463,000 immigrants in 2011 with the majority, about 28 per cent, hailing from China, followed by Iran, India and the Philippines at 9 per cent, 6 per cent and 6 per cent, respectively. During the period from 2006 to 2011, 90 per cent of the region’s recent immigrants settled in Markham, Vaughan and Richmond Hill.

About 47 per cent of York Region’s residents reported having mother tongue languages, a first language learned at home in childhood and still understood, other than English or French and 29 per cent said they spoke languages other than English or French most often at home.

Five per cent of respondents, most of whom are over 60, reported they had no knowledge of English or French.

Approximately 77 per cent of York residents reported having a religious affiliation with the largest proportion saying they were Christian followed by Jewish, Muslim and Hindu.

In addition, the region’s residents reported having more than 200 distinct ethnic origins.

In terms of socio-economic factors, York Region’s median household income, at $89,100, is the second highest within the GTA and well above the median for Ontario and Canada. That said, the median varies between local municipalities from $70,000 in Georgina to $102,000 in Aurora.

Despite that, nearly one-third of York Region households reported incomes of less than $60,000 a figure that could make living in York Region difficult to afford.

Most residents, 88.5 per cent in fact, are homeowners.

However, all of that aside, Ms Gonsalves cautioned in her report that the data obtained from the 2011 National Household Survey may not be of the same calibre as previous years.

The major issue is whether the National Household Survey data reflects a representative sample of the population, particularly at lower levels of geography and for smaller population groups, she said.

Voluntary surveys are more prone than mandatory surveys to people not responding (non-response bias), particularly among certain populations like low-income groups or recent immigrants.

The voluntary household survey replaced the mandatory long-form census for the 2011 exercise. It was sent to 4.5 million Canadian families and the response rate was 69 per cent, representing about 21 per cent of the population. In contrast, the response rate to the mandatory long-form document was 94 per cent.

In the region, the global non-response rate for the survey was 22.5 per cent compared to 27.1 per cent for Ontario and 26.1 for the country as a whole. The rates in York’s municipalities vary from 20.5 per cent in Whitchurch-Stouffville to 37.3 per cent in King.

In fact, the survey data for three census tracts in King and Georgina was suppressed by Statistics Canada over quality concerns, Ms Gonsalves noted. Typically, Statistics Canada has suppressed the release of data for areas with a global non-response rate of 50 per cent or more.

The agency itself has cautioned users about comparing the new survey data to previous long-form census information. As such, Ms Gonsalves concludes that the region will hold off on performing historical trend analysis using the survey’s results until final documentation is released.

Other municipalities are taking a similar tack, she added.

What if York Region were a village of 100 people:

- 29 people would live in Markham, 28 would live in Vaughan, 18 would reside in Richmond Hill, eight would hail from Newmarket, five would live in Aurora, four each would call Georgina and Whitchurch-Stouffville home and just two would have an address in King.

- 51 people would be female, 49 would be male

- 47 would be married, 24 would be single, six would be separated or divorced and four would be widowed

- 29 would be between the ages of 45 and 64, 27 would be between 25 to 44, 14 would be between the ages of 15 and 24, 13 would be children from 5 to 14, 10 would be senior citizens aged 65 to 84, six would be pre-schoolers between birth and age four and just one would be over 85.

- 56 would be Christian, six would be Jewish, six would be Muslim, five would be Hindu, three would be Buddhist and one would be Sikh.

- Regardless of country of birth, 92 people would be Canadian citizens, while eight would not.

- Of the 43 people reported as visible minorities, 18 would be Chinese, 11 would be South Asian, three each would be West Asian and Black, two each would be Filipino and Southeast Asian and one each would be Latin American, Arab, Korean, of another visible majority group and belonging to more than one visible minority.

- 89 would know English, six would know English and French and five would not know either official language.

- 71 would say English is the language they speak most often at home.

- Of the 56 working age people, 46 of them would be in the labour force with 44 employed, while two would be unemployed.

- Of the 44 employed, 38 would work for someone else, while 6 would be self-employed.

- About 88 would own their own home. Twelve would rent