ABSTRACT
PIP: The indigenous population of Canada comprises the Inuits (once called Eskimos) who live in the far north, the Metis (descendants of Indians and French-Canadians) who tend to live in the prairie provinces, and the Indians. The Ministry of Indian Affairs and North Canada conducted population projections of Indians registered with the Indian Registry of the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development using 1975-90 data. The statisticians adjusted for underenumeration and late registration of events. They considered migration, fertility, mortality, and proportion of Indians living on reservations. The size of the registered Indian population has increased greatly, especially since 1985. It has increased 54% compared with 11% for the general Canadian population. Reregistration of about 74,000 Indians accounted for 41% of the increase. The projections indicate that the annual growth rate will fall rapidly between 1990 and 2005. Nevertheless, during this period, the annual growth rate will be much higher than that of the general Canadian population (3.34% vs. 1.1%). The age structure of the registered Indian population will continue to be young, but the proportion of children will decrease from 40% in 1990 to 31% in 2015. The median age of registered Indians will continue to be lower than that of the general population: 1995, 25 vs. 35; 2005, 28 vs. 39; and 2015, 30 vs. 41. Between 1991 and 2015, the 35-64 year old age group will increase. In fact, the proportion of this age group will climb from 56% to 62% between 1990 and 2015. The highest proportion of all registered Indians will continue to live in Ontario (23.2% vs. 1.3-15.2% in 1990; 21.8% vs. 1.2-17.3% in 2015).^ieng
