Leap over here for some extra data

It’s February 29, and guess what? You get an extra StatsCAN Plus article to read. Happy Leap Day!

You know we aren’t here to disappoint, so let’s skip over the formalities and jump right to the content. We’ve got it in leaps and bounds.

Leaping for leisure, for a living

First and foremost—Canadians like to leap. In December 2023, there were 1,144 locations nationwide in the other sport facilities category, which include trampoline, bungee jumping, and outdoor adventure facilities.

You need shoes for all that leaping! Canadians spent $975.3 million in retail purchases of athletic footwear in the third quarter of 2023.

Some are involved in leaping for a living. The 2021 census counted 2,930 Canadians employed as athletes.

Counting Canadians, and extra babies

Speaking of the census, only three have been conducted during leap years: 2016, 1996, and 1976. Until 1971, the national census was only taken every decade, all on odd-numbered years. The handful of regional censuses taken during even-numbered years from 1842 to 1926 all dodged leap years.

And although February always has the least number of days out of all the months, there is a leap-year effect when it comes to live births in Canada. In each leap year from 1992 to 2020 (except 1996), there has been an increase in the number of live births in February, compared with those in February of the previous year.

February accounted for 7.9% of live births in 1992, outranking December (7.8%) and November (7.6%). In 1996, February (7.9%) outranked the same two months (7.5% and 7.7%). The next two leap years with birth bumps in February were 2000 and 2020.

Exporting leaps, importing jumps

Did you know that Atlantic salmon can leap up waterfalls 4.5 metres high? In 2023, Canada exported 60.1 million kilograms of Atlantic salmon as well as 2.8 million kilograms of Pacific salmon, mostly to the United States.

Also in 2023, Canada imported nearly 93,000 trampolines. Sounds like a lot of Canadian humans want to outdo their salmon neighbours?

Leap-living

Perhaps some of those jumpers live in Jumpers Brook, a locality just east of Bishop’s Falls, Newfoundland. It’s within a census subdivision covering 4,180 square kilometres and with a population of only 596—allowing for plenty of room to leap around.