Census learning centre
Census of Population web pages: Data tables, part 2
Release date: July 30, 2025
Catalogue number: 982000032021043
Hello and welcome to the "Census of Population web pages: Data tables, part 2" video.
This video is part of a video series on the Census of Population web pages. The purpose of this video is to show you how to customize a census data table to meet your data needs.
- Subject
- Census of Population web pages
- Length
- 00:08:34
- Cost
- Free
- Links
Watch the video
Video: Census of Population web pages: Data tables, part 2 - Transcription
Hello and welcome to the “Data tables, part 2” video.
(The title of the video "Census of Population web pages: Data tables, part 2" appears on screen.)
This video is part of the video series on the Census of Population web pages. The purpose of this video is to show you how to customize a census data table to meet your data needs.
But before we show you how to customize a data table, we will first need to find a table on the Statistics Canada website that we can use as an example. To do this, we need to go to the “Data tables, 2021 Census of Population” page.
(The Census of Population main webpage appears.)
As mentioned in the “Data tables, part 1” video, data tables can be found on the Statistics Canada Census of Population web page through the “Census data” and “Data tables” links.
(The “Census data” button is selected and the “Data products, 2021 Census” page appears. The “Data tables” link is selected and the “Data tables, 2021 Census of Population” page appears.)
From the “Data tables, 2021 Census of Population” page, we will click on “browsed by variable,” then click on “H,” and then select “Highest certificate, diploma or degree (15).”
For this demonstration, we will go down the list and select the table “Visible minority by occupation, highest level of education and generation status: Canada, provinces and territories.”
Directly under the table title, the details of the table are listed, including the “Geography,” the “Universe,” which is also known as the Population of interest or POI, and the “Variable list.”
(The following information is highlighted:
As previously mentioned, standard census tables can be customized to meet your needs. We will now look at various ways in which this can be done.
(The page scrolls down to the “Customize table” box.)
In the “Customize table” box, you can see the variables that are available for customization, including the geography.
For example, you may be interested in only looking at the population aged 15 to 24 years with an apprenticeship, trades certificate or diploma in Nova Scotia.
To do that, use the drop-down boxes to filter the table.
Under “Geography” select “Nova Scotia,” under “Age” select “15 to 24 years,” and under “Highest certificate, diploma or degree” select “Apprenticeship or trades certificate or diploma.”
Click on the “Apply” button.
(The page loads, then scrolls down to the newly filtered table. The table displays data for Nova Scotia. The rows and columns of the table display the variables with the selected filters: total generation status, apprenticeship or trades certificate or diploma, 15 to 24 years, total gender, visible minority groups, and occupational groups based on the National Occupational Classification (NOC) 2021.)
You can now see that the table has been filtered to show that the total number of persons aged 15 to 24 years with an apprenticeship or trades certificate or diploma in Nova Scotia is 2,765.
Now, let’s say you wanted to look at the population aged 15 to 24 years with an apprenticeship or trades certificate or diploma in Ontario and Alberta.
(The page scrolls back up to above the table, but under the “Customize table” box.)
To add more than one filter for a geography or a variable, click on the “Add/Remove data” button.
(The page loads, then scrolls down to the “Customize table” box, which is now labeled “Customize table (Add/Remove data)” and contains different options than before.)
On the “Geography” tab, click on the + sign in front of “Canada,” remove the check mark in front of “Canada,” and then select Ontario and Alberta.
On the “Highest certificate, diploma or degree (15)” tab, click on the + sign, remove the check mark in front of the “Total - Highest certificate, diploma or degree,” click on the + sign in front of “Postsecondary certificate, diploma or degree” and select “Apprenticeship or trades certificate or diploma.”
For the “Age (8C)” tab, click on the + sign, remove “Total - Age” and select “15 to 24 years.”
Click on the “Apply” button.
(A new, wider table appears. The previously filtered table now compares the data for Ontario and Alberta.)
You can now compare the population aged 15 to 24 years with an apprenticeship or trades certificate or diploma, between Ontario and Alberta.
If you look to the bottom of the “Customize table” box, you will see the estimated number of data points for your selection.
(For this table, the estimated number of data points is 24,630.)
Please note that if the table size exceeds the number of data points that can be rendered on the screen, you will need to reduce the number of filters or download the table.
To return to the original table, click on “Visible minority by occupation, highest level of education and generation status: Canada, provinces and territories,” on the crumb bar, located at the top of the screen.
Another available option is to interchange rows and columns to create your customized table.
For example, let’s say you would like to see the detailed categories for visible minority in the rows being cross tabulated with gender in columns, for all of Canada.
(The page scrolls down.)
To do that, you first need to click on the “Add/Remove Data” button, select the “Geography” tab, and ensure only the first box on the left, under “Select specific levels only,” has a check mark.
(The + symbol next to “Canada [11124]” is clicked, opening up a list of the provinces and territories. The checkbox next to Canada is selected, as well as the checkbox directly above it. The checkbox to the right of it and the checkboxes next to the provinces and territories remain unselected.)
Please note that these checkboxes select all items in the level directly below the corresponding checkbox.
Next, select the “Gender (3)” tab and ensure all boxes under “Select specific levels only” have a check mark.
(The + symbol next to “Total - Gender” is clicked, opening up a list of the gender categories. The “Select All” checkbox is selected, which selected all the gender categories checkboxes underneath it.)
Select the “Visible minority (15)” tab and ensure all boxes under “Select specific levels only” have a check mark.
(The + symbol next to “Total - Visible minority” is clicked, opening up a list of the visible minority categories. All checkboxes are selected.)
Select the “Generation status (4)” tab and ensure only the first box on the left, under “Select specific levels only,” has a check mark.
(The + symbol next to “Total - Generation Status” is clicked, opening up a list of the generation status categories. The checkbox next to “Total - Generation Status” and the checkbox directly above it are selected. The rest of the checkboxes remain unselected.)
Select the tab, “Highest certificate, diploma or degree (15),” and ensure only the first box on the left, under “Select specific levels only,” has a check mark.
(The + symbol next to “Total - Highest certificate, diploma or degree” is clicked, opening up a list of the highest certificate, diploma or degree categories. The checkbox next to “Total - Highest certificate, diploma or degree” and the checkbox directly above it are selected. The rest of the checkboxes remain unselected.)
Select the “Age (8C)” tab and ensure only the first box on the left, under “Select specific levels only,” has a check mark.
(The + symbol next to “Total - Age” is clicked, opening up a list of the age categories. The checkbox next to “Total - Age” and the checkbox directly above it are selected. The rest of the checkboxes remain unselected.)
Select the “Statistics (3)” tab and ensure only “Count” has a check mark in front of it.
Select the tab, “Occupation - Unit group - National Occupational Classification (NOC) 2021 (821A),” and ensure only the first box on the left, under “Select specific levels only,” has a check mark.
(The + symbol next to “Total - Occupation - Unit group - National Occupational Classification (NOC) 2021” is clicked, opening up a list of the occupation categories. The checkbox next to “Total - Occupation - Unit group - National Occupational Classification (NOC) 2021” and the checkbox directly above are kept selected. The rest of the checkboxes are then unselected.)
Select the “Customize layout” tab, select “Row” for “Visible minority (15)” and select “Column” for all the other variables.
(The “Visible minority (15)” variable has Column selected by default. It is changed to Row. The “Occupation - Unit group - National Occupational Classification (NOC) 2021 (821A)” variable has Row selected by default. It is switched to Column. The other variables already had Column selected by default and are left as is.)
And finally, click on the “Apply” button.
(The newly customized table with 45 datapoints is displayed. The table displays data for Canada. The rows and columns of the table display the variables with the selected filters: total generation status; total highest certificate, diploma or degree; total age; total gender, men+, and women+; total occupational groups based on the National Occupational Classification (NOC) 2021; and visible minority groups.)
Columns and rows have now been rearranged to create your customized table.
(Column headings for Gender (3) and row headings for Visible minority (15) are highlighted. The page then scrolls back to the top of the page.)
To save this view as an HTML, select the “Save my customizations” button. You can click the copy icon to the right of the link and paste it in a location of your choice for later use.
To download the table, select the “Download options” button.
(The page scrolls down to below the “Customize table” box. The “Download options” box appears when selected, with a list of eight options available and with the sixth box greyed out.)
You can download the table as displayed, download the entire original table, or use any of the other download options.
(The page scrolls down to beneath the table.)
Below the table, you will find:
- Abbreviation notes
(The “List of abbreviations and acronyms found within various Census products” link is selected and the “Symbols, abbreviations and acronyms” page appears and scrolls down. The screen then returns back to the previous page and the "How to cite" section is highlighted.)
- Information on how to cite the table, and
- A related information section.
The "Related information" section includes the data table’s “Source,” “Related products,” and “Subjects and keywords.”
(As each topic is mentioned, the arrows next to them are selected, which open boxes that contain information and links.)
This concludes the “Data tables, part 2” video. Thank you for watching.
To view the “Data tables, part 1” video, which will show you where to find and how to extract census data tables on the 2021 Census of Population website, go to the Census learning centre.
(The census logo appears with a link, which is also available to view here: Census learning centre. The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 978-0-660-75441-3 appears underneath the link.)
(The "Canada" wordmark appears.)
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