Census learning centre
Table builder: Part 3, Focus and population of interest

Release date: May 7, 2025

Catalogue number: 982000032021036

Hello and welcome to the "Table builder: Part 3, Focus and population of interest" video.

The purpose of this series of videos is to provide you with a good understanding of data table building concepts and to present you with some of the data table key components that might come into play when analysing data. This video will explain the focuses and populations of interest.

Subject
Table builder
Length
00:06:05
Cost
Free
Links

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Video: Table builder: Part 3, Focus and population of interest - Transcription

Welcome to video three of the table builder video series.

In the previous videos, you were introduced to census data, data tables, and the data requirements to build a census data table.

(A white box highlights the heading "1. Introduction to census data and tables" and a white box highlights the heading "2. Data requirements".)

The purpose of this video is to provide you with a deeper understanding of census focuses and populations of interest.

(A white box highlights the heading titled "3. Focus and Population of interest".)

Let’s start with the census cycle.

The census cycle is a combination of two elements:

  • The census year and
  • The census questionnaire type,
    • Short form or
    • Long form.

To obtain the appropriate data in the table, it is important to choose the correct cycle.

The cycle is written in the title of the data table.

(The following text appears on the screen: “Age groups (6), Gender (3), Tenure (4), Immigration status (4) and Labour force status (5) for the Population aged 65 and over in private households of Canada, Provinces, Territories and Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs) of Vancouver, Victoria, Abbotsford-Mission, and Kelowna, 2021 Census - 25% Sample Data”.)

In this example, the census year is 2021 and the questionnaire type is the long form or 25% Sample Data.

The next item is the focus, which is the type of unit being counted in a table.

The focuses of the Canadian Census are person, family, household, and dwelling.

(A video shows the different provinces and territories coming together to form Canada. The following words appear at the same time on the right side of the video: “Person”, “Family”, “Household” and “Dwelling”.)

Each focus has different populations of interest associated with it.

The population of interest, or POI, is what is being counted in the focus.

(A video shows persons appearing on a white background to ultimately form the map of Canada.)

(A figure shows how the census population is divided for production and dissemination purposes. For more information, please see Figure 2.2: Family membership and family status.)

This image shows how person, family, and household POIs fit into the person focus.

The total population is broken down into either persons in private households or persons in collective households.

Persons in private households are further divided into two categories:

  • Persons in economic families and
  • Persons not in economic families.

Please refer to the Census of Population Dictionary for detailed definitions of household and family types.

(A figure shows the breakdown of the 2021 dwelling categories. For more information, please see Figure 2.1: Dwelling categories.)

This image shows the possible POIs that can be used in the dwelling focus.

The two types of dwellings identified in the census are:

  • Collective dwelling and
  • Private dwelling.

Please refer to the Census of Population Dictionary for detailed definitions of the different types of dwellings.

Each POI has specific variables associated with it.

For example, population 15 years and over is a POI and the focus is persons.

Examples of variables that apply to this POI are labour force status, marital status, and school attendance. But the person focus can have many other POIs associated with it, such as population in private households or population 15 years and over who worked full time full year.

To refine the POI to a more specific population, units that are not needed can be removed by applying the necessary filters.

For example, the population in private households can be refined to the labour force by removing the population aged 0 to 14 and those not in the labour force.

Let’s look at a more specific example.

(An animation describes the information presented above. A yellow circle containing 5 persons comes from the left side. At the bottom of the screen, under the yellow circle, the following text appears: “Population in private households”. The yellow circle moves to the right and passes through a filter. By passing through the filter, a person less than 15 years old is excluded from the circle and moves up the filter to be placed in the “Population aged 0 to 14” category. The circle comes out smaller on the right side of the filter, blue in color, with only 4 persons. At the bottom of the screen, under the blue circle, the following text appears: “Population aged 15 years and over”. The blue circle moves to the right and passes through a second filter. When passing through the filter, a person not in the labour force is excluded from the circle and moves up the filter to be placed in the “Population not in the labour force” category. The circle comes out smaller on the right side of the filter, purple in color, with only 3 persons. At the bottom of the screen, under the purple circle, the following text appears: “Population in the labour force”.)

Which filters would need to be applied to get the POI immigrants aged 65 years and over who are working?

Starting with the population in private households, we need to apply filters for:

  • Age,
  • Immigrant status, and
  • Labour force status.

(A purple circle containing the text “Population in private households” appears at the top center of the screen. Below the first circle three pink circles appear. In the pink circle on the left, the text “Age” appears. In the pink circle in the center, the text “Immigrant status” appears. In the pink circle on the right, the text “Labour force status” appears.)

The age filter should only include the persons aged 65 and over.

(In the pink circle on the left, the text is changed to “Age / Filter = 65 years and over”.)

The immigrant status filter should only include immigrants.

(In the center pink circle, the text is changed to “Immigrant Status / Filter = Immigrants”.)

The labour force status filter should only include persons in the labour force.

(In the pink circle on the right, the text is changed to “Labour force status / Filter = Population in labour force”.)

Choosing the appropriate focus and POI is important to meet the analytical objectives of a table.

The specifications are determined by what one wants to observe.

For example, to analyze one-parent families, one can create three separate tables:

(A vertical rectangle with the text “One-Parent families” appears on the left side of the screen. Three horizontal rectangles, placed one on top of the other and connected to the vertical rectangle by lines, appear to the right of the vertical rectangle. The first horizontal rectangle is called “Table 1,” the one in the middle is called "Table 2" and the one at the bottom is called “Table 3”.)

  • Table 1 could show the number of persons living in a one-parent family.
  • Table 2 could show how many census families are one-parent families.
  • Table 3 could show the number of households containing at least one one-parent family.

The concept is similar, but both the numbers for the three tables as well as the interpretation of the data will differ.

For example, there could be one household of two families living in one dwelling, each of which is a one-parent family with each of these one-parent families being composed of three persons.

(A drawing of a house, with six persons inside, appears in the center of the screen. The three persons at the top, including an adult and two children, are surrounded by a rectangle. The three persons at the bottom, including an adult and two children, are also surrounded by a rectangle.)

In this scenario:

(The image of the house with the persons moves to the right of the screen.)

  • The persons table would count six units – for six persons.

    (The text “Persons table” appears at the top left of the screen. Below, the same six persons that were in the house appear below the text.)

  • The census families table would count two units – for two families.

    (The text “Census families table” appears at the top center of the screen. Below, the same six persons appear below the text, but are grouped in two rectangles. One adult and two children in each rectangle.)

  • The households table would count one unit – for one household.

    (The text “Households table” appears at the top right of the screen, just above the house with the six persons. The roof and walls of the house are highlighted.)

As can be seen, each of the data tables would have different numbers, and the information provided would differ.

When producing each of these tables, the populations of interest would also be different:

  • For the person-level table, the POI could be all persons.
  • For the families table, the POI could be one-parent census families.
  • Finally, for the households table, the POI could be households with at least one one-parent family.

So, what have we learned about focuses and populations of interest?

  • The census cycle is made up of the census year and questionnaire type.
  • The focus is the type of unit being counted in a table.
  • The census focuses are persons, families, households and dwellings.
  • The population of interest is what is being counted in the focus. And
  • Populations of interest can be further refined by applying filters.

The next video in the table builder video series will take a closer look at variables and dimensions.

This concludes the third video of the Table builder video series.

Thank you for watching.

(The census logo appears with a link, which is also available to view here: Census learning centre. The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) 978-0-660-71811-8 appears underneath the link.)

To view the next Table builder video, go to the Census learning centre.

(The "Canada" wordmark appears.)

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