Education: Profile of adult population aged 25 to 64 

The document Educational Portrait of Canada, 2006 Census provides information on the education of the 17,382,100 adult Canadians aged between 25 and 64.

Overall, 6 out of every 10 Canadians aged between 25 and 64 had completed some form of postsecondary education, and 1 out of every 5 postsecondary graduates had studied business, management and marketing. No other Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nation had a higher proportion of its adult population with university or college attainment than Canada.

The number of adults aged between 25 and 64 who reported a university degree increased by 24% from 3,207,400 in 2001 to 3,985,700 in 2006. In comparison, the number of adults that did not have a university degree increased only 2%.

Canada ranked sixth among all OECD countries in terms of the proportion of adults aged 25 to 64 who had a university degree. It was tied with Australia and Korea at 23%.

One-third (33%) of women aged 25 to 34 had a university degree in 2006, compared with 25% of their male counterparts. Both proportions were much higher than those observed for older adults aged between 55 and 64; in this age group, 16% of women and 21% of men had a university degree.

 

Just under one-quarter (24%) of 25 to 64 year olds had a high school diploma as their highest level of attainment, while 15% had less than a high school education.

Fewer young adults were studying in trades than their parents. About 10% of adults aged 25 to 34 had a trade certification in 2006, compared with 13% of the adults aged between 55 and 64.

Young adults studied different trades than older generations. For example, there were 25,800 fewer young people aged 25 to 34 who had a trade certificate in mechanics and repairs than adults aged 55 to 64. On the other hand, there were 12,500 more young people who had a certificate in personal and culinary services than the older generation.

Over half the recent immigrants (who arrived between 2001 and 2006), had a university degree. This was more than twice the proportion of degree holders among the Canadian-born population (20%) and also much higher than the proportion of 28% among immigrants who arrived before 2001.

Educated Canadians were more mobile.  Adults age between 25 and 65 who had a university degree accounted for 23% of the population, but 33% of the people who moved to another province or territory between 2001 and 2006. Alberta was the prime beneficiary of interprovincial migration among educated adults.

Source: Statistics Canada