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Focus on Geography Series, 2011 Census

Census subdivision of Big Lakes, MD - Alberta ¹

Map of Big Lakes, MD

Interactive version of map

Population, 2011 and 2006 censuses

Chart A description: Big Lakes, MD - Population, 2011 and 2006 censuses

Prov. rank

Nat. rank

621

In 2011, Big Lakes (Municipal district) had a population of 5,912, representing a percentage change of -1.3% from 2006. This compares to the national average growth of 5.9%.

Land area is 13,928.13 square kilometres with a population density of 0.4 persons per square kilometre. This compares to the provincial land area of 640,081.87 square kilometres with a population density of 5.7 persons per square kilometre.

In 2011, Big Lakes (Municipal district) had 2,143 private dwellings occupied by usual residents. The change in private dwellings occupied by usual residents from 2006 was 4.3%. For Canada as a whole, the number of private dwellings occupied by usual residents increased 7.1%.

Population and dwelling counts

Big Lakes (Municipal district) – Neighbouring census subdivisions

Table 1 Big Lakes (Municipal district) – Neighbouring census subdivisions, population change, 2006 to 2011
Census subdivision (CSD) name	CSD type	Population
Census subdivision (CSD) name	CSD type	2011	2006	% change
Woodlands County, Alta.	MD	4,306	4,158	3.6
High Prairie, Alta.	T	2,600	2,785 A	-6.6
Swan Hills, Alta.	T	1,465	1,645	-10.9
Northern Sunrise County, Alta.	MD	1,791	1,747	2.5
Lesser Slave River No.124, Alta.	MD	2,929	2,820	3.9
Utikoomak Lake 155, Alta.	IRI	644	786	-18.1
Drift Pile River 150, Alta.	IRI	800	720	11.1
Sucker Creek 150A, Alta.	IRI	677	594	14.0
Kapawe'no First Nation (Pakashan 150D), Alta.	IRI	5	0	···
Swan River 150E, Alta.	IRI	312	305	2.3
Kapawe'no First Nation (Freeman 150B), Alta.	IRI	115	143	-19.6
Kapawe'no First Nation (Halcro 150C), Alta.	IRI	0	0	···
Kapawe'no First Nation (Grouard 230), Alta.	IRI	0	0	···
Greenview No. 16, Alta.	MD	5,299	5,464	-3.0
Smoky River No. 130, Alta.	MD	2,126	2,442	-12.9

Alberta – Census subdivisions with 5,000-plus population with the highest population growth

Table 2 Alberta – Census subdivisions with 5,000-plus population with the highest population growth, population change, 2006 to 2011
Census subdivision (CSD) name	CSD type	Population
Census subdivision (CSD) name	CSD type	2011	2006	% change
Chestermere	T	14,824	9,923 A	49.4
Beaumont	T	13,284	8,961	48.2
Airdrie	CY	42,564	28,927	47.1
Leduc	CY	24,279	16,967	43.1
Okotoks	T	24,511	17,150 A	42.9

Alberta – Census subdivisions with 5,000-plus population with the lowest population growth

Table 3 Alberta – Census subdivisions with 5,000-plus population with the lowest population growth, population change, 2006 to 2011
Census subdivision (CSD) name	CSD type	Population
Census subdivision (CSD) name	CSD type	2011	2006	% change
Lac la Biche County	MD	8,402	9,123 A	-7.9
Willow Creek No. 26	MD	5,107	5,337	-4.3
Crowsnest Pass	SM	5,565	5,749	-3.2
Greenview No. 16	MD	5,299	5,464	-3.0
Lethbridge County	MD	10,061	10,254 A	-1.9

Age and sex

Big Lakes, MD – Age distribution

Chart C: Big Lakes, MD - Population by broad age groups

Chart C description: Big Lakes, MD - Population by broad age groups

Table 4 Big Lakes, MD – Age distributions by broad age groups and sex, 2011 Census
Age groups	Both sexes	Males	Females
0 to 14	24.0%	23.8%	24.3%
15 to 64	64.2%	63.5%	65.1%
65 and over	11.8%	12.6%	10.7%

In 2011, the percentage of the population aged 65 and over in Big Lakes, MD was 11.8%, compared with a national percentage of 14.8%. The percentage of the working age population (15 to 64) was 64.2% and the percentage of children aged 0 to 14 was 24.0%. In comparison, the national percentages were 68.5% for the population aged 15 to 64 and 16.7% for the population aged 0 to 14.

Big Lakes, MD – Population by broad age groups and sex

Table 5 Big Lakes, MD – Population by broad age groups, sex and population change between 2006 and 2011, 2006 to 2011 censuses
Broad age groups by sex	Population
Broad age groups by sex	2011	2006	change	% change
Both sexes
Total	5,910	6,015	-105	-1.7
0 to 14	1,420	1,590	-170	-10.7
15 to 64	3,795	3,845	-50	-1.3
65 and over	695	580	115	19.8
Males
Total	3,010	3,085	-75	-2.4
0 to 14	715	805	-90	-11.2
15 to 64	1,910	1,935	-25	-1.3
65 and over	380	345	35	10.1
Females
Total	2,905	2,930	-25	-0.9
0 to 14	705	785	-80	-10.2
15 to 64	1,890	1,915	-25	-1.3
65 and over	310	235	75	31.9

Big Lakes, MD – Population by five-year age groups and sex

Chart D description: Big Lakes, MD - Population by five-year age groups and sex

Table 6 Big Lakes, MD – Population by five-year age groups and sex, 2011 Census
Age groups	Both sexes	Males	Females
Total - Age groups	5,910	3,010	2,905
0 to 4 years	450	235	215
5 to 9 years	475	240	235
10 to 14 years	495	245	250
15 to 19 years	485	240	250
20 to 24 years	310	155	155
25 to 29 years	275	135	145
30 to 34 years	290	145	150
35 to 39 years	360	175	185
40 to 44 years	395	205	190
45 to 49 years	460	230	225
50 to 54 years	490	235	255
55 to 59 years	405	225	180
60 to 64 years	330	170	160
65 to 69 years	265	140	125
70 to 74 years	190	115	75
75 to 79 years	115	65	50
80 to 84 years	75	35	40
85 years and over	45	25	25
Median age	37.2	38.4	36.3

Big Lakes, MD – Median age² of the population

Chart E: Canada, Alberta and Big Lakes, MD - Median age, 2006 and 2011 censuses

Chart E description: Canada, Alberta and Big Lakes, MD - Median age, 2006 and 2011 censuses

In 2011, the median age in Big Lakes, MD was 37.2 years. In comparison, the median age of Alberta was 36.5 years.

Table 7 Canada, Alberta and Big Lakes, MD – Median age, 2006 and 2011 censuses
	Median age
	2006	2011
Canada	39.5	40.6
Alberta	36.0	36.5
Big Lakes, MD	33.9	37.2

Families and households

In 2011, the number of census families³ in Big Lakes was 1,685, which represents a change of 2.1% from 2006. This compares to a growth rate for Canada of 5.5% over the same period.

In Big Lakes, 58.2% of census families were married couples in 2011, while 21.1% were common-law-couples and 21.1% were lone-parent families.

Chart F: Big Lakes - Census families by family structure

Chart F description: Big Lakes - Census families by family structure

Big Lakes – Family structure

Table 8 Canada, Alberta, CSD of Big Lakes, MD and neighbouring census subdivisions – Distribution of census families by family structure, 2011 Census
Geographic name	Total families	Married-couple families		Common-law-couple families		Lone-parent families		% change, census families, 2006 to 2011
Geographic name	Total families	number	%	number	%	number	%	% change, census families, 2006 to 2011
Canada †	9,389,695	6,293,950	67.0	1,567,905	16.7	1,527,840	16.3	5.5
Alberta †	999,525	719,355	72.0	135,660	13.6	144,510	14.5	10.5
Big Lakes, MD	1,685	980	58.2	355	21.1	355	21.1	2.1
Woodlands County, MD	1,320	1,015	76.9	190	14.4	120	9.1	4.8
High Prairie, T	675	365	54.1	150	22.2	160	23.7	-9.4
Swan Hills, T	425	270	63.5	100	23.5	50	11.8	-10.5
Northern Sunrise County, MD	555	430	77.5	70	12.6	55	9.9	7.8
Lesser Slave River No.124, MD	895	680	76.0	155	17.3	60	6.7	10.5
Utikoomak Lake 155, IRI	150	30	20.0	60	40.0	60	40.0	-23.1
Drift Pile River 150, IRI	215	60	27.9	70	32.6	85	39.5	7.5
Sucker Creek 150A, IRI	180	50	27.8	50	27.8	80	44.4	16.1
Swan River 150E, IRI	85	25	29.4	30	35.3	35	41.2	6.3
Kapawe'no First Nation (Freeman 150B), IRI	30	10	33.3	10	33.3	5	16.7	0.0
Greenview No. 16, MD	1,590	1,240	78.0	215	13.5	140	8.8	-0.3
Smoky River No. 130, MD	600	490	81.7	75	12.5	35	5.8	0.0

Big Lakes – Presence of children within couple families

Among couples (married and common-law) in the census subdivision of Big Lakes, 47.9% were couples with children aged 24 and under at home. In comparison, as a whole, 46.9% of couples in Canada had children aged 24 and under at home.

Presence of children within couple families
* Children aged 24 and under at home
Married couples with children *	430
Married couples without children *	550
Common-law-couples with children *	215
Common-law-couples without children *	140

Big Lakes – Marital status

Chart H description: Big Lakes - Marital status

In Big Lakes, 59.9% of the total population aged 15 and over were either married (44.3%) or living with a common-law partner (15.7%).

The remaining 40.2% were not married and not living with a common-law partner, including those who were single (never-married), separated, divorced or widowed.

Note: Percentages may not total 100 percent due to random rounding.

Table 9 Canada, Alberta, Big Lakes, MD – Population 15 years and older by marital status, 2011 Census
Marital status	Big Lakes, MD		Alberta		Canada
Marital status	number	%	number	%	number	%
Total - Population 15 years and over	4,485	100.0	2,960,470	100.0	27,869,345	100.0
Married or living with a common-law partner	2,685	59.9	1,756,860	59.3	16,084,490	57.7
Married (and not separated)	1,985	44.3	1,484,705	50.2	12,941,965	46.4
Living common-law	705	15.7	272,155	9.2	3,142,525	11.3
Not married and not living with a common-law partner	1,805	40.2	1,203,615	40.7	11,784,855	42.3
Single (never legally married)	1,300	29.0	823,935	27.8	7,816,045	28.0
Separated	120	2.7	70,855	2.4	698,245	2.5
Divorced	200	4.5	177,375	6.0	1,686,035	6.0
Widowed	180	4.0	131,440	4.4	1,584,525	5.7

Big Lakes – Types of private households

There were 2,140 private households⁴ in Big Lakes in 2011, a change of 3.4% from 2006. Of these, 28.3% of households were comprised of couples with children aged 24 and under at home, a change of -6.9% compared with five years earlier.

Table 10 Canada, Alberta, Big Lakes, MD – Distribution of households by household type, 2011 Census
Household type⁵	Big Lakes, MD		Alberta		Canada
Household type⁵	number	%	number	%	number	%
Total private households	2,140	100.0	1,390,275	100.0	13,320,615	100.0
Couple-family households with children aged 24 and under at home⁶	605	28.3	407,145	29.3	3,524,915	26.5
Couple-family households without children aged 24 and under at home⁷	655	30.6	406,380	29.2	3,935,540	29.5
Lone-parent family households⁸	265	12.4	128,330	9.2	1,375,450	10.3
One-person households	495	23.1	342,735	24.7	3,673,310	27.6
Multiple family households⁹	75	3.5	27,900	2.0	268,060	2.0
Other households¹⁰	50	2.3	77,785	5.6	543,340	4.1

Big Lakes – Structural type of dwelling

In Big Lakes, 78.8% of private households lived in single-detached houses and 0.0% lived in apartments in buildings that have five or more storeys. The rest lived in other types of dwelling structures.

Table 11 Canada, Alberta, Big Lakes, MD – Distribution of private households by structural type of dwelling, 2011 Census
Structural type of dwelling	Big Lakes, MD		Alberta		Canada
Structural type of dwelling	number	%	number	%	number	%
Total - Structural type of dwelling	2,145	100.0	1,390,275	100.0	13,320,615	100.0
Single-detached house	1,690	78.8	883,260	63.5	7,329,150	55.0
Semi-detached house	10	0.5	71,850	5.2	646,240	4.9
Row house	30	1.4	97,865	7.0	791,600	5.9
Apartment, building that has five or more storeys	0	0.0	58,205	4.2	1,234,770	9.3
Apartment, building that has fewer than five storeys	10	0.5	197,945	14.2	2,397,555	18.0
Apartment, duplex	0	0.0	33,505	2.4	704,485	5.3
Other single-attached house¹¹	10	0.5	1,060	0.1	33,310	0.3
Movable dwelling¹²	395	18.4	46,590	3.4	183,510	1.4

Language

Big Lakes, MD – Mother tongue

Chart J description: Big Lakes, MD - Mother tongue and language spoken most often at home

Note: Counts for mother tongue as well as those for language spoken most often at home include single responses only.

In Big Lakes, 84.7% of the population reported English only as mother tongue, 2.4% reported French only, and 12.1% reported a non-official language only, in 2011. In comparison, the provincial / territorial percentages were 77.0% for English only, 1.9% for French only and 19.4% for only non-official languages.

In 2011, 97.5% of the population spoke only English most often at home, 0.3% spoke only French and 1.5% spoke only a non-official language. In comparison, the provincial / territorial percentages were 85.7% for only English, 0.7% for only French and 10.5% for only a non-official language.

Table 12 Big Lakes, MD – Mother tongue and language spoken most often at home, 2011 Census
Selected languages	Mother tongue		Language spoken most often at home
Selected languages	number	%	number	%
Total	5,915	100.0	5,910	100.0
English	5,010	84.7	5,765	97.5
French	140	2.4	20	0.3
Non-official language	715	12.1	90	1.5
Multiple responses	45	0.8	35	0.6

Table 13 Big Lakes, MD – Mother-tongue retention, 2011 Census
Mother tongue	Mother-tongue retention¹³ (in percentage)
Mother tongue	Total retention; language spoken at home at least on a regular basis	Complete retention; language spoken most often at home	Partial retention; language spoken at home on a regular basis
Note: Counts for mother tongue and home language include single response of a language as well as multiple responses of a language with English and/or French.
English	100.0	99.8	0.2
French	33.3	10.0	23.3
Non-official language	66.2	15.2	51.0

Big Lakes, MD – Non-official languages

In Big Lakes, the three most common mother tongues were Cree, n.o.s. (9.8%), German (0.8%) and Ukrainian (0.7%), in 2011. In comparison, the most common mother tongues at the provincial / territorial level were German (2.3%), Tagalog (Pilipino, Filipino) (1.9%) and Panjabi (Punjabi) (1.5%).

Table 14 Big Lakes, MD – The most common non-official-language mother tongues, 2011 Census
Mother tongue	Number	Percentage of non-official language mother-tongue population	Percentage of total population
Note: Counts for mother tongue and home language include single response of a language as well as multiple responses of a language with English and/or French.
Cree, n.o.s.	580	77.3	9.8
German	50	6.7	0.8
Ukrainian	40	5.3	0.7
Dutch	25	3.3	0.4
Korean	10	1.3	0.2
Polish	10	1.3	0.2

Big Lakes, MD – Bilingualism

Table 15 Big Lakes, MD – Rate of English-French bilingualism by mother tongue and age groups, 2011 Census
Age groups	Mother tongue
Age groups	Total	English	French	Non-official language
Note: Counts for mother tongue include single responses only. Consequently, the total excludes multiple responses.
Total	3.2	1.3	78.6	1.4
0 to 19	1.0	1.1	0.0	0.0
20 to 44	2.5	1.4	80.0	0.0
45 to 64	4.2	1.2	76.9	1.5
65 and over	7.4	2.4	72.7	0.0

Table 16 Big Lakes, MD – Knowledge of official languages, 2011 Census
Knowledge of official languages	Number	Percentage
Total	5,910	100.0
English only	5,720	96.8
French only	5	0.1
English and French	185	3.1
Neither English nor French	0	0.0

Symbols:

···: not applicable
†: excludes census data for one or more incompletely enumerated Indian reserves or Indian settlements. For further information, refer to Notes.
¶: incompletely enumerated Indian reserve or Indian settlement. For further information, refer to Notes.
A: adjusted figure due to boundary change. For further information, refer to Content considerations.
E: use with caution. For further information, refer to Cautionary note.

Footnotes

Footnote 1

Big Lakes MD (Alberta) – This census subdivision has the following data quality indicators (commonly referred to as data quality flags):

Data quality index showing a global non response rate higher than or equal to 5% but lower than 10%.

2006 adjusted count; most of these are the result of boundary changes.

Return to footnote 1 referrer

Footnote 2

Median age: Age 'x' that divides a population in two groups of the same population size, one group being older than age 'x' and the other group being younger than age 'x'.

Return to footnote 2 referrer

Footnote 3

Census family: Refers to a married couple (with or without children), a common-law couple (with or without children) or a lone parent family.

Return to footnote 3 referrer

Footnote 4

Household, private: Refers to a person or a group of persons (other than foreign residents) who occupy a private dwelling and do not have a usual place of residence elsewhere in Canada.

Return to footnote 4 referrer

Footnote 5

Household type: Refers to the basic division of private households into family and non-family households. Family household refers to a household that contains at least one census family, that is, a married couple with or without children, or a couple living in common-law with or without children or a lone parent living with one or more children.

Return to footnote 5 referrer

Footnote 6

Couple-family households with children: Refers to couple households with at least one child aged 24 and under.

Return to footnote 6 referrer

Footnote 7

Couple-family households without children: Refers to couple households without children aged 24 and under. Includes couple households with all children aged 25 and over.

Return to footnote 7 referrer

Footnote 8

Lone-parent-family households: Refers to all lone-parent family households regardless of age of children.

Return to footnote 8 referrer

Footnote 9

Multiple-family households: Refers to a household in which two or more census families (with or without additional persons) occupy the same private dwelling.

Return to footnote 9 referrer

Footnote 10

Other households: Refers to two or more people who share a private dwelling, but who do not constitute a census family.

Return to footnote 10 referrer

Footnote 11

Other single-attached house: A single dwelling that is attached to another building and that does not fall into any of the other categories, such as a single dwelling attached to a non-residential structure (e.g., a store or a church) or occasionally to another residential structure (e.g., an apartment building).

Return to footnote 11 referrer

Footnote 12

Movable dwelling includes mobile homes and other movable dwellings such as houseboats and railroad cars.

Return to footnote 12 referrer

Footnote 13

Mother-tongue retention: Retention refers to the situation where people speak their mother tongue at home. Retention is defined as 'complete' when the mother tongue is the language spoken most often and 'partial' when it is spoken on a regular basis but not most often. The (complete or partial) retention rate refers to the proportion of the population with a given mother tongue that speaks that language at home most often or on a regular basis. The retention rate provides an indication of a group's linguistic vitality, particularly the importance of transmitting languages between generations.

Return to footnote 13 referrer

Source:

Statistics Canada. 2012. Focus on Geography Series, 2011 Census. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 98-310-XWE2011004. Ottawa, Ontario. Analytical products, 2011 Census. Last updated October 24, 2012.

Related data:

2011 Census Topic-based tabulations – Census subdivision of Big Lakes, Municipal district - Alberta
2011 Census Highlight tables – Census subdivision of Big Lakes, Municipal district - Alberta
2011 Census Data Navigator – Census subdivision of Big Lakes, Municipal district - Alberta
2011 NHS Focus on Geography Series – Census subdivision of Big Lakes, Municipal district - Alberta

Date modified:: 2019-03-27

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Focus on Geography Series, 2011 Census