What is in the Data Tables collection?
- over 40 million time-series on socio-economic, demographic, health, education and justice statistics
- Some data tables date back to 1914, but most start in the 1950's through 1970's. These ongoing tables allow you to observe changes over time
- updated every weekday
Where does the data come from?
- Unlike the Census of Population, which is conducted once every 5 years, statistics in the Data Tables (formerly CANSIM) are taken from ongoing data sources which include:
- Surveys: Statistics Canada runs many surveys on a regular basis, such as the annual Survey of Household Spending.
- Administrative data: Statcan gathers 'administrative' data from other government agencies, such as income tax returns from Canada Revenue Agency, and vital statistics from provincial departments. It also has agreements with some non-government data providers.
Before June 2018, the Data Tables collection was called CANSIM. That name was retired, but the content is still available. CANSIM tables have been given new numbers, but you can still search the Data Tables using the old CANSIM table and vector numbers (or use this
Concordance to look up the new table number).
