This edition of the Bulletin presents several articles based on those studies, which were performed by several experts on child development. The survey brought together data on 22,831 children aged zero to 11 years. Most children in Canada are physically, emotionally and socially healthy. 82 percent of children live in urban centres. City living today offers children and families at least as many challenges as it does opportunities.
Children make up a much larger proportion of the population in aboriginal communities.
Surveys conducted in 1986 and 1991 found that nearly 40 percent of people living in Indian reserves and Inuit communities were under the age of 15, and 60 percent were under 25. Between 1961 and 1994, the proportion of children living with a lone parent virtually doubled, from 11 percent to 20 percent. Mothers' average age at the birth of their first child increased from 23.3 in 1971 to 26.6 in 1992. One implication of this is that many more children are likely to live in families where one or both parents have a more secure footing in the labour market - and hence relatively higher incomes. One in ten Canadian children live in households that are supported primarily by social assistance.