Demographic Groups in Canada

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Demographic Groups in Canada
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• Demographic Groups in Canada
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• Demography is the study of human populations. A
  demographer is important as they will analyse
  data and make predictions on future population
  growth. Governments can use demographic data to
  plan ahead (schools, construction projects,
  health care..)
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What Does Demography Tell Us? Demographers
provide many useful services for a nation and a
plethora of useful data for anthropologists and
sociologists. Population statistics identify
different age segments and make recommendations
about the social and economic needs of various
groups. Population Forecasts More importantly,
Demographic data allows us to project population
growth in the future. This in turn allows
governments to plan ahead, for example, for
school budgets (construction of new schools),
health care needs (ie our aging population), job
creation programs and other social programs. By
looking at population forecasts we can also
forecast needs within a population. In order
to maintain a stable population the number of
births must equal the number of deaths. If not,
we must look to outside sources (immigration) to
sustain our population and social institutions.
 
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• Demographic Groups in Canada
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• Key Groups  (Baby Boom, Baby Bust, Echo Boom)
• Baby Boom A demographic phase marked by an
  increase in the birth rate of a country and a
  corresponding population increase. In the years
  following WWII (1946-1966) men returned from war,
  marriages increased, and the result was the Baby
  Boom. The Baby Boomer demographic includes
  Boomers, Yuppies, Dinks and Generation-Xers)
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Baby Bust Marks a period of declining birth
rates. These are the people born in the mid-60s
to the late 70s (our textbook states 1967-1979).
Also known as Twentysomethings and often
Gen-Xers this group was a generation that
questioned the world as they saw it. Echo Boom
Exactly as it sounds the Echo of the Baby
Boom. These are the children of Baby Boomers.
While not as large as the first wave they are a
distinct group (cohort) in our population.
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• BABY BOOM CAUSES
• After WWII many soldiers did not wait long to
  resume their lives. They return home to start
  their families and get back to their lives (many
  had been psychologically damaged in the war).
  They wanted a sense of normalcy in their lives
  and quickly started families.
• Courtships were short, so marriage rates in
  Canada were doubled those of the pre-war era and
  still remain the highest in history.
• Marriage was considered the norm, and the young
  adults of the 40s were the most domestically
  oriented generation of the 20th century. People
  believed that marriage and family offered the
  best route to respectability and contentment.
• War Brides Some came home with European war
  brides (term for the European wives of Canadian
  soldiers)
• Government Aid To ease the transition into
  peacetime life, war veterans were given first
  priority by those hiring for government jobs.
  Laws were also passed to allow veterans to return
  to their pre-war jobs, with military service
  counting toward their workplace seniority. Vets
  qualified for low-cost home mortgages and loans
  to upgrade their education.
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• Immigration accelerated the baby boom in Canada.
  Young people had less attachment to the old
  world, because crossing the ocean to begin a new
  life somewhere foreign was more appealing
  (instead of the ravaged war-torn Europe).
• Marriage, family and a home were as important to
  them as to returning Canadian war veterans.
• By marrying earlier, people tended to have more
  children since the women were married for a
  greater portion of their prime child-bearing
  years.

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Baby Boom - Characteristics
Characteristics of Boomers The baby boomers
were the first group to be raised with
televisions in the home. Some say that the
television is the institution that solidified the
sense of generational identity more than any
other. Starting in the 1950s, people in diverse
geographic locations could watch the same shows,
listen to the same news, and laugh at the same
jokes. Television shows such as Father Knows Best
and Leave it to Beaver showed idealized family
settings. Later, the boomers watched scenes from
the Vietnam War and the assassinations of John F.
Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F.
Kennedy.  Baby Boomer cohort 1 (born from 1946
to 1954) Memorable events assassinations of
JFK, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King,
political unrest, walk on the moon, Vietnam War,
anti-war protests, social experimentation, sexual
freedom, civil rights movement, environmental
movement, women's movement, protests and riots,
experimentation with various intoxicating
recreational substances Key characteristics
experimental, individualism, free spirited,
social cause oriented
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• Baby Boomer cohort 2 (born from 1955 to 1964)
• Memorable events Watergate, Nixon resigns, the
  Cold War, the oil embargo, raging inflation,
  gasoline shortages
• Key characteristics less optimistic, distrust
  of government, general cynicism

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• Yuppies short for Young Urban Professionals
  or the lesser known definition of Young
  Upwardly Mobile Professional. This is a
  self-reliant, financially secure cohort from the
  early baby boom. They are considered to be
  career oriented, intent on making themselves
  financially secure.
• Baby Bust The period of declining birth rates
  between 1966-79, immediately after the post-World
  War II baby boom. This group falls between the
  Baby Boom and Echo Boom
• Generation X A term used for people born between
  1946-66, during the post-World War II baby boom.
  
• Generation Y Echo Boom A term used for the
  group born between 1980-95, most of them children
  of parents born during the post-World War II baby
  boom.
• Generation Z A term used for children born after
  the mid-1990s, some of them the off-spring of the
  so-called Twentysomethings demographic group.

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Baby Boomers

• Youthquake
• Sexual Revolution 60s and 70s
• DINK Double Income No Kids
• Six Pocket Phenomenon - This is a term used by
  marketing people in reference to Generation Y, a
  demographic group receiving spending money from
  two working parents and four grandparents
• Population Pyramids
• Cohorts
• Dependency Ratio

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• Disposable Income
• Generation Gap

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Population pyramids ClickgtThis is a chart of
an agesex pyramid from the 2001 annual
population estimates. This chart shows
statistical information on Canada's population by
age group and sex. Canada's total population was
30,007,088 in 2001.Agesex pyramids are
commonly used to present statistical information
on the composition of a population. This chart
clearly shows the aging "Baby Boomers."
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• Nurturing the Baby Boom
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• Suburban Culture Rapid population growth of the
  baby boom era contributed to the new suburban
  culture. There had been limited construction of
  new housing during both the Great Depression and
  WWII. There was a severe shortage of
  accommodation in the immediate post-war years,
  and many newly married couples had to live with
  their parents or in-laws.
• Suberbia Demand for housing triggered a
  tremendous construction boom most of these new
  homes were built beyond the existing built-up or
  urban area (suburbia).
• Security Triangle Owning a suburban home
  completed the "security triangle" which they
  sought by early marriage and a growing family.
  Each home had a driveway, so the car was a
  necessity of most families.
• Suburban Car Culture This led to the
  development of the familiar features of suburban
  car-culture fast-food restaurants, shopping
  plazas, drive-in movie theatres.
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• While some people enjoyed the stability of
  Suburban Culture others were critical of the
  Sameness of people who lived in the Little
  Boxes (houses) developed en-masse.

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• Social patterns developed within young families
  (mom's meeting for coffee at each others house,
  card parties or bowling for adults, organized
  sports for the kids, organizations like Brownies
  and Guides, religious services).
• Nuclear Family A family group consisting only
  of a mother and father living with their
  children.
• The Baby Boom Goes to School Canadian economy
  was growing rapidly great pressure was put on
  institutions (new hospitals, expansion). By the
  50s, the boomers arrived at school so there was a
  boom in elementary-school construction. By the
  60s, universities were emerging.
• Earlier generations had usually learned under a
  teacher-centered authoritarian education, in
  which they were expected to master a standard
  school program that was focused on reading,
  writing and arithmetic.
• By the 50s, Canadian schools were applying the
  progressive education ideas of John Dewey, whose
  principles are applied today. Schooling was more
  child-centered, and teacher training emphasized
  that students were naturally eager to learn.

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• Baby Boomers Transform Society
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• The 1960s Counterculture
• Babies of the Boom were now in their late teens
  and early 20s.
• Many questioned the values of their parents.
• Cool Stat Between 1960 and 1972, close to half
  of the people in Canada were not legally adults.
  It was a youth culture.
• In the US, the Vietnam War was on, and many
  people responded with the peace movement.
• Hippies, freer attitudes towards sex and drugs,
  experimentation and the questioning of social
  norms was a part of this counterculture.
• The counterculture experimented with yoga,
  environmentally friendly ways of living,
  vegetarianism.
• Experimentation in art and music (The Doors,
  Grateful Dead, The Who).
• Political activism was also a major part of the
  60s.

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• Questioning political ideologies, protesting the
  war and nuclear weapons, civil rights and
  feminist movements.
• What the children of the baby boom did was help
  facilitate a complete shift in North American
  culture and values.
• There were so many babies during the boom that
  were created a demographic echo.
• The generation after the baby boom are known as
  the "echo kids".
• This generation has a large impact on Canadian
  society.
• To begin with it has put a strain on both the
  elementary and secondary system (portables are an
  example of overcrowding).
• Also universities and colleges are facing
  overcrowding as well.
• This generation will benefit greatly from aging
  boomers as they retire, echo kids will fill their
  jobs.
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• Impact of the Aging Baby Boomers
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• By 2020, most baby boomers will be retired.
• Twentysomethings and echo kids will take over
  their jobs.
• This will create a dependency load.
• Dependency Load this refers to the portion of
  the population that is not currently employed.
  As the baby boomers age the dependency load will
  become larger. What this means echo kids (YOU)
  will be responsible for caring for a great deal
  of the aging population.
• Gloomy Future? Not necessarily. Many Baby
  Boomers have been preparing for retirement. With
  RRSPs many of the Baby Boomers will be
  self-sufficient way into their 80s and 90s. In
  addition, the Echo Boom (me) is a large cohort of
  the population whose tax dollars are contributing
  to the CPP.

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KIPPERS Generation Y

• As a result, Generation Y has been labelled the
  KIPPERS Kids
• In Parents Pockets Eroding Retirement Savings.
  This is because
• Generation Y is spending more time in educational
  institutions and
• taking longer to start paid work compared to
  their Baby Boomer
• parents. Additionally, many are beginning their
  adult life with debts
• and extra expenses that are specifi c to todays
  climate (e.g. credit
• cards, mobile phones, high petrol prices, etc.).

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Generation Z

• The Internet generation is one of a variety of
  terms used to represent the generation of people
  who have grown up with computer technology as a
  commonplace. The distinguishing mark of this
  cohort is that its members spent their formative
  years during the rise of the World Wide Web.
  Thus, they usually have no memory of (or
  nostalgia for) a pre-Internet history. These
  people are usually the people born from
  1994-present.

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Generation Z

• The iGeneration2 (a jocular allusion to the
  popular iPod boom, experienced by the Internet
  Generation) takes the Internet for granted,
  accepting the utility of services such as
  internet forums, email, Wikipedia, search
  engines, MySpace, Facebook, imageboards, Bebo and
  YouTube.
• The term "Generation Now" has been used as
  well,3 to reflect the urge for
  instant-gratification that technology has
  imparted.4
• Other terms that have been used in conjunction
  with this generation include
• Computer Generation5
• Generation M6 (for Millennium or Multi Task)
• Millennials7
• Google generation
• Generation Einstein
• Generation Q (for "Quiet", termed by Thomas L.
  Friedman)
• Net Gen, a shortened form of "Net Generation"
  (similar to the related term "Net Natives") used
  frequently in books by Don Tapscott and several
  of his co-authors, such as Anthony D. Williams in
  Wikinomics how mass collaboration changes
  everything.