Census subdivision (CSD) is the general term for municipalities (as determined by provincial/territorial legislation) or areas treated as municipal equivalents for statistical purposes (e.g., Indian reserves, Indian settlements and unorganized territories). Municipal status is defined by laws in effect in each province and territory in Canada.Census subdivisions (CSDs) are classified into 53 types according to official designations adopted by provincial/territorial or federal authorities. Two exceptions are 'subdivision of unorganized' (SNO) in Newfoundland and Labrador, and 'subdivision of county municipality' (SC) in Nova Scotia, which are geographic areas created as equivalents for municipalities by Statistics Canada, in cooperation with those provinces, for the purpose of disseminating statistical data.The census subdivision type accompanies the census subdivision name in order to distinguish CSDs from each other, for example, Balmoral, VL (for the village of Balmoral) and Balmoral, P (for the parish / paroisse (municipalité de) of Balmoral).

This service shows the percentage of the population who reported an Aboriginal identity by census subdivision. The data is from the Census Profile, Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 98-316-X2016001.Aboriginal identity refers to whether the person identified with the Aboriginal peoples of Canada. This includes those who are First Nations (North American Indian), Métis or Inuk (Inuit) and/or those who are Registered or Treaty Indians (that is, registered under the Indian Act of Canada) and/or those who have membership in a First Nation or Indian band. Aboriginal peoples of Canada are defined in the Constitution Act, 1982, section 35 (2) as including the Indian, Inuit and Métis peoples of Canada.Users should be aware that the estimates associated with this variable are more affected than most by the incomplete enumeration of certain Indian reserves and Indian settlements in the 2016 Census of Population.For additional information refer to the 2016 Census Dictionary for 'Aboriginal identity'.To have a cartographic representation of the ecumene with this socio-economic indicator, it is recommended to add as the first layer, the “NRCan - 2016 population ecumene by census subdivision” web service, accessible in the data resources section below.

The 2022 Census Subdivision Boundary File depicts the boundaries of all 5,180 census subdivisions (CSDs), which combined, cover all of Canada. It contains the unique identifier (UID), name and type, as well as the UIDs, names and types (where applicable) of selected higher geographic levels.The 2022 Census Subdivision Boundary File is portrayed in Lambert conformal conic projection (North American Datum of 1983 [NAD83]). The 2022 Census Subdivision Boundary File is available as a national file.

The 2025 Census Subdivision Boundary File depicts the boundaries of all 5,054 census subdivisions, which combined, cover all of Canada. It contains the unique identifier (UID), name and type, as well as the UIDs, names and types (where applicable) of selected higher geographic levels.The 2025 Census Subdivision Boundary File is portrayed in Lambert conformal conic projection (North American Datum of 1983 [NAD83]) and is available as a national file.

The 2024 Census Subdivision Boundary File depicts the boundaries of all 5,028 census subdivisions, which combined, cover all of Canada. It contains the unique identifier (UID), name and type, as well as the UIDs, names and types (where applicable) of selected higher geographic levels.The 2024 Census Subdivision Boundary File is portrayed in Lambert conformal conic projection (North American Datum of 1983 [NAD83]) and is available as a national file.

This service shows the predominant mother tongue in each census subdivision based on English, French or non-official language. The data is from the data table Mother Tongue (10), Age (27) and Sex (3) for the Population of Canada, Provinces and Territories, Census Divisions and Census Subdivisions, 2016 Census - 100% Data, Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 98-400-X2016046.Mother tongue refers to the first language learned at home in childhood and still understood by the person at the time the data was collected. If the person no longer understands the first language learned, the mother tongue is the second language learned. For a person who learned two languages at the same time in early childhood, the mother tongue is the language this person spoke most often at home before starting school. The person has two mother tongues only if the two languages were used equally often and are still understood by the person. For a child who has not yet learned to speak, the mother tongue is the language spoken most often to this child at home. The child has two mother tongues only if both languages are spoken equally often so that the child learns both languages at the same time.For additional information refer to the 2016 Census Dictionary for 'Mother tongue'.To have a cartographic representation of the ecumene with this socio-economic indicator, it is recommended to add as the first layer, the “NRCan - 2016 population ecumene by census subdivision” web service, accessible in the data resources section below.

A population ecumene is the area of inhabited lands or settled areas generally delimited by a minimum population density. This ecumene shows the areas of the densest and most extended population within census subdivisions. A census subdivision (CSD) is the general term for municipalities (as determined by provincial or territorial legislation) or areas treated as municipal equivalents for statistical purposes (e.g., Indigenous Peoples reserves and communities and unorganized territories). Municipal status is defined by laws in effect in each province and territory in Canada. For further information, consult the Statistics Canada’s 2016 Illustrated Glossary (see below under Data Resources).The assemblage of dissemination block population density data from the 2016 Census of Population are used to form the ecumene areas within census subdivisions. Areas included in the ecumene are dissemination blocks where the population density is greater than or equal to 0.4 persons per square kilometre or about one person per square mile. In some areas to capture more population within the ecumene the criteria was extended to 0.2 persons per square kilometre. The ecumene areas were generalized in certain areas to remove small uninhabited areas within the ecumene areas in census subdivisions.This map can be used as an “ecumene” overlay to differentiate the sparsely populated areas from the ecumene in conjunction with census subdivision data or other large-scale maps. This ecumene shows a more meaningful distribution of the population for Canada.

The 2023 Census Subdivision Boundary File depicts the boundaries of all 5,173 census subdivisions (CSDs), which combined, cover all of Canada. It contains the unique identifier (UID), name and type, as well as the UIDs, names and types (where applicable) of selected higher geographic levels.The 2023 Census Subdivision Boundary File is portrayed in Lambert conformal conic projection (North American Datum of 1983 [NAD83]). The 2023 Census Subdivision Boundary File is available as a national file.

The 2022 Census Subdivision Boundary File depicts the boundaries of all 5,180 census subdivisions (CSDs), which combined, cover all of Canada. It contains the unique identifier (UID), name and type, as well as the UIDs, names and types (where applicable) of selected higher geographic levels.The 2022 Census Subdivision Boundary File is portrayed in Lambert conformal conic projection (North American Datum of 1983 [NAD83]). The 2022 Census Subdivision Boundary File is available as a national file.

This service shows the ratio of persons aged 0 to 14 and 65 and over (children and seniors) versus persons aged 15 to 64 (working-age) by census subdivision. The data is a custom extraction from the 2016 Census - 100% data.This data pertains to the total population by age. 'Age' refers to the age at last birthday before the reference date, that is, before May 10, 2016. For additional information refer to 'Age' in the 2016 Census Dictionary.For additional information refer to 'Age' in the 2016 Census Dictionary.To have a cartographic representation of the ecumene with this socio-economic indicator, it is recommended to add as the first layer, the “NRCan - 2016 population ecumene by census subdivision” web service, accessible in the data resources section below.