OTTAWA — A newly released study says one in five younger First Nations children living off-reserve were able to understand an aboriginal language in 2006.

Statistics Canada reports Cree and Ojibway were the languages understood by the largest number of the kids ages 2-5.

The agency says First Nations children make up a growing proportion of all children in Canada, particularly in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Yukon and the Northwest Territories.

Census statistics indicate there were about 57,110 First Nations children aged two to five across Canada living on- and off-reserve.

The study found the vast majority -- 98 per cent -- of the young kids living off-reserve who understood an aboriginal language could also understand a non-aboriginal language.

English and/or French were the primary languages spoken at home for 90 per cent of them.

Only about one in 10 were spoken to primarily in an aboriginal language at home, eight per cent in combination with English and/or French, and one per cent exclusively in an aboriginal language.

The agency says the odds of young, off-reserve kids understanding an aboriginal language who were exposed to an aboriginal language on a daily basis at home were 6.6 times those who were not.