CITY OF VANCOUVER ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT |
The General Manager of Community Services submits this report for INFORMATION.
There is no applicable Council Policy.
This information report provides Council and the public with a brief description of some social indicators in the City of Vancouver, many of them presented in a graphic form, as outlined in the document "Social Indicators - City of Vancouver".
Vancouver is a city of change, contrasts, and diversity. The quality of life in Vancouver can be measured by social, economical, financial, and many other types of indicators. There are hundreds of indicators that can be produced from available data. We have selected 15 items related to social issues from the 2001 Statistics Canada census data and presented them in the form of maps, tables and charts.
The census data that we have mapped includes information related to children and youth, seniors, family structure, aboriginal population, immigrant population, language groups, visible minorities, schooling, labour force, income and mobility status. The data is mapped at the census tract level. The tables include comparative data for Vancouver, the Greater Vancouver Regional District and British Columbia.
The information presented in this report does not reflect on any priority listing, but rather the desire to provide information on a variety of distinct issues.
A similar publication was produced in 1999, with information obtained from the 1996 census. This earlier publication was very popular with City staff in different Departments, and with neighbourhood-based organizations.
The information permits us to graphically visualize differences and trends in City neighbourhoods. It may be useful for the assessment of service needs, particularly social services, and be helpful with the design and delivery of community and neighbourhood-based programs.
· Vancouver's population continues to grow. With this growth is a greater diversity of people, with an increase in the proportion of immigrants and visible minorities in Vancouver.
· In some ways, Vancouver has similar trends to those of the province of British Columbia as a whole and to the Greater Vancouver Regional District, while in other ways, Vancouver has unique trends (e.g. concentration of some immigrant groups in the city).
· There is a significant number of people living under the low income cut off.
· English is a mother tongue to less than half of Vancouver's population, and Chinese is a mother tongue to more than one-quarter.
· Vancouver has a highly educated population, but also a significant number of residents with a low educational attainment level.
This "Social Indicators" publication provides Council and the public with a brief description of some social indicators in the City of Vancouver, as measured by the 2001 census, with many of them presented in a graphic form. The City of Vancouver has diverse contrasts, and understanding this may provide policy makers and service providers with another tool to evaluate social service needs and provisions.