Dictionary, Census of Population, 2016
Province or territory
Definition
'Province' and 'territory' refer to the major political units of Canada. From a statistical point of view, province and territory are basic areas for which data are tabulated. Canada is divided into 10 provinces and 3 territories.
Reported in
2016, 2011, 2006, 2001, 1996, 1991, 1986, 1981, 1976, 1971, 1966, 1961
Remarks
Statistics Canada uses standard codes and abbreviations to represent provinces and territories. The two-digit code that uniquely identifies each province/territory is based on the Standard Geographical Classification (SGC). The code is assigned from east to west. The first digit represents the geographical region of Canada in which the province/territory is located and the second digit denotes one of the 10 provinces and 3 territories (Table 1.8).
Table 1.8
Abbreviations and codes for provinces and territories, 2016 Census
| Province/Territory | Standard abbreviations English/French |
Internationally approved alpha code (Source: Canada Post) |
Standard geographical classification (SGC) code |
Region name |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newfoundland and Labrador | N.L./T.-N.-L. | NL | 10 | Atlantic |
| Prince Edward Island | P.E.I./Î.-P.-É. | PE | 11 | Atlantic |
| Nova Scotia | N.S./N.-É. | NS | 12 | Atlantic |
| New Brunswick | N.B./N.-B. | NB | 13 | Atlantic |
| Quebec | Que./Qc | QC | 24 | Quebec |
| Ontario | Ont./Ont. | ON | 35 | Ontario |
| Manitoba | Man./Man. | MB | 46 | Prairies |
| Saskatchewan | Sask./Sask. | SK | 47 | Prairies |
| Alberta | Alta./Alb. | AB | 48 | Prairies |
| British Columbia | B.C./C.-B. | BC | 59 | British Columbia |
| Yukon | Y.T./Yn | YT | 60 | Territories |
| Northwest Territories | N.W.T./T.N.-O. | NT | 61 | Territories |
| Nunavut | Nvt./Nt | NU | 62 | Territories |
| Source: Statistics Canada, 2016 Census of Population. | ||||
Refer to the related definitions of census division (CD) and Standard Geographical Classification (SGC).
Changes prior to the current census
Effective October 20, 2008, the names 'Yukon Territory' in English and 'Territoire du Yukon' in French become 'Yukon' in English and in French, as per the Yukon Act (Chapter 7, assented March 27, 2002).
Users should be aware that there is no change to the abbreviations or to the numeric and alpha codes for Yukon. The abbreviations remain Y.T. in English and Yn in French, 60 for the numeric code and YT for the alpha code.
On October 21, 2002, the alpha code for the province of Newfoundland and Labrador changed from NF to NL. Furthermore, the official English abbreviation for Newfoundland and Labrador changed from Nfld.Lab. to N.L. The official French abbreviation remains unchanged.
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