Communities in data

January 28, 2025, 2:00 p.m. (EST)

Picture this: you’re embarking on a cross-country road trip, exploring the diverse cities and towns along the way. But instead of highways, your journey is through the rich landscape of social data. Perhaps you’re curious about a friend’s community in another province, or a parent’s hometown.

If you’ve ever wondered how your own community fits in when you see a certain datapoint—for example, how nearly one in five Canadians (18%) could conduct a conversation in both English and French in 2021—then this is the adventure for you. Statistics Canada has many geographic tools for exploring and visualizing data.

Come along with us on a journey to Twillingate, Newfoundland and Labrador, also known as “the iceberg capital of the world.”

Population, demographics, income: instant breakdowns

First up, we can use the Census Program Data Viewer (CPDV) dashboard, an advanced web-based data visualization tool that will make statistical information more interpretable by presenting key indicators in a statistical dashboard.

The CPDV covers a wide range of topics, such as population and dwellings, age and gender, knowledge of official languages, and employment. For instance, after selecting the age and gender topic, we find out that the average age of Twillingate’s 2,121 residents was 53.3 years in 2021. Seniors aged 65 and older (36.6%) made up a much higher proportion of the population than children aged 14 years and younger (9.4%).   

Another useful tool is the Focus on Geography Series, which displays census data in text, tables and figures for population centres of all sizes. Let’s say you’re interested in income information for Twillingate residents—selecting the Income topic will show that in 2020, the median after-tax income of households in Twillingate was $50,000, up 3.3% from $48,400 in 2015.   

Quality of life indicators

Statistics Canada also has a Municipal Quality of Life Dashboard, an interactive tool allowing users to examine the latest data for four indicators of the Quality of Life Framework for Canada: housing needs; poverty; postsecondary attainment; and knowledge of official languages. 

Under the Poverty tab, we can see that 8.3% of Twillingate residents lived in poverty in 2020. The highest poverty rate was among those aged 55 to 64 (14.3%), followed by those aged 25 to 54 (9.0%), and those aged 65 and older (6.4%). 

Data-driven measure of remoteness

The index of remoteness is a continuous measure, with values ranging from 0 (minimum value of remoteness) to 1 (maximum). We can use the Canadian Statistical Geospatial Explorer Hub to discover that in 2016, the index of remoteness for Twillingate was 0.519. By comparison, Toronto’s index of remoteness is 0 (not remote at all!), whereas it’s no surprise that Grise Fiord—at the southern tip of Ellesmere Island in Nunavut—has the maximum value of 1.

 

Twillingate is renowned for its iceberg views, whale watching, and stunning landscapes. Yet, the data from these visualization tools reveals a different side of this picturesque community, offering a deeper understanding of its social dynamics. However, that’s just the tip of the iceberg—you can explore the depth of data in all these tools yourself! 

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Contact information

For more information, contact the Statistical Information Service (toll-free 1-800-263-1136514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).