Greater Sudbury is losing its youth according to a new report by the the Sudbury Community Foundation.
The foundation released its fourth annual report on the health of the city, Vital Signs, on Oct. 26. Issues tackled by the report include housing costs, safety and crime statistics, health and wellness, employment, environment, arts and culture, charitable contributions, poverty rates, learning and population dynamics.
Most of the data is from Statistics Canada but some is from local sources, such as Greater Sudbury Police Services’ annual report.
“We are producing well-educated youth but they are leaving,” Carmen Simmons, executive director of the Sudbury Community Foundation, said.
The population under 15 years of age in Sudbury’s metropolitan area declined from 18.1 per cent in 2001 to 15.3 per cent in 2009. This compares to the provincial rate of 16.9 per cent provincially and 16.6 per cent nationally.
The number of people with a post secondary education increased from 41.8 per cent in 2000 to 51.3 per cent by 2009. The provincial average in 2009 was 51.8 per cent and the national average was 50.8 per cent.
“We are going through the expense of educating them and they then leave,” she said.
“We need to look at the kinds of jobs (we can provide) for a well-educated work force.”
That could entail encouraging more youth entrepreneurship if there are fewer traditional employment prospects.
Businesses have to be encouraged to stay in the city rather than being lured elsewhere, she added. That would provide entry-level jobs younger workers need to gain a foothold here.
Though the population of the city seems to be stabilizing, with a net gain of 312 persons (according to 2007 statistics) Simmons said if the city had not gained people from within the province there would have been an outright decline of the population.
She said the city also has to make itself more attractive to outsiders to ward off future population decline. That may mean enhancing the arts and cultural sector to attract younger people and highly educated professionals.
As the number of young people declines, the number of older people is increasing. The population aged 65 and older rose from 13.5 per cent in 2001 to 15.1 per cent in 2009, according to the report. The provincial rate of seniors in 2009 was 13.7 per cent and the national rate was 13.9 per cent.
The Vital Signs report is available at www.sudburycf.ca and www.vitalsigns.ca.
For more information, phone 705-673-7770. By November, the hard cover of the report will be available in libraries and city leisure centres.
Other statistics in the report:
- more people were without family doctors-15.2 per cent of the population, up from 6.9 per cent in 2003 and higher than the provincial average of 9.2 per cent;
- more people smoke here-25.5 per cent of the population over 12 years in 2007 versus 20.3 per cent in Ontario and 21.7 per cent in Canada;
- more people drink heavily-22.9 per cent aged 12 years and older consumed five or more drinks on one occasion, at least once per month in 2007 compared to 15.9 per cent in Ontario and 16.9 per cent in Canada;
- property crime rose slightly-2,711 reported per 100,000 persons in 2008, up for the first time since 2008 but below the national rate of 3,079 per 100,000;
- drug offenses on the rise-up 14 per cent from 2008 and up 107 per cent from 2005;
- wait times for housing increasing-in 2008 31 per cent of those on central housing lists for social housing in the city were placed in a unit compared to 41 per cent in 2006;
- housing costs as a proportion of income still low-2.4 years of annual income for a median family compared to a national average of 4.62 and 4.33 provincially;
- renters paid less of their income on housing-12.0 per cent compared to the national rate of 13.9 per cent.
