Greying baby boomers are swelling Canada's aging population, while the number of children is dropping, according to census numbers released Tuesday. The trend will soon pose major challenges to the country's workforce.

Census 2006: Age and Sex shows nearly one out of every three Canadians is a boomer, and retirement-minded Canadians aged 55 to 64 are the fastest growing demographic, accounting for 3.7 million people. That represents a 28 per cent increase from five years ago when the last census was conducted.

• The number of Canadians aged 65 and over increased more than 11.5 per cent from 2001
• The number of children under 15 dropped by 2.5 per cent over the same period.
• The country's median age, the point where half the population is younger and half older, soared to an all-time high of 39.5 years.

The number of residents in their golden years is at an all-time high, as one out of every seven Canadians was a senior when the census was taken last year.

"I think we have to keep it in perspective -- we're still the second-youngest in terms of the G8 countries, but we are the oldest when we're looking at the Americas," Statistics Canada's Anil Arora told CTV's Canada AM.

At the other extreme, the under-15 demographic experienced the greatest loss, shrinking to just 17.7 per cent of the population. That's down from 18.8 per cent five years ago.

Statistics Canada projects that within a decade, seniors could outnumber children younger than 15.

Calgary is the youngest city in the country, with a median age of 35.7 -- nearly five years younger than anywhere else.

"I was born and raised in Calgary. But it seems like most people coming in have young families, or are young professionals," said 35-year-old James Risk.

But across Canada, aging baby boomers pose a threat to the nation's workplace as the labour market will experience a dramatic loss of personnel. Experts predict many seniors will continue to work -- both for economic reasons and personal fulfillment.

The trend poses threats to the nation's workplace as the labour market will experience a dramatic loss of personnel to the point where experts predict many seniors will continue to work -- both for economic reasons and personal fulfillment.

Statistics Canada said Tuesday the country's labour force is at the point where one person leaves for every one person entering it.

But in about 10 years, Canada will slide into a negative worker replacement ratio, where more people retire from the workplace than enter it.

"In part, Canadians will fill the jobs, and certainly immigration and regional migration," demographer Andrew Ramlo told CTV Newsnet.

"But what we're also going to have to look towards is that the labour force already here, you and I, will have to be much more productive. With the number of people retiring, we simply won't have enough immigrants to slow that down over the coming decades."

Some highlights:

• For the first time in the nation's history, there are more than 4 million Canadians aged 65 or older. Seniors represent one in every seven residents; 50 years ago, just one in 13 Canadians was a senior;
• The proportion of children in Canada has never been lower: just 17.7 per cent of the population is made up of kids 14 and under. At the height of the baby boom in 1961, about one-third of Canadians were children;
• There are more than 1 million Canadians 80 and over and two-thirds of them are women.
• The census enumerated 4,635 people aged 100 and over; five of six centenarians were female; and
• The national male-female ratio is 95.9 men for every 100 women. Alberta is the only province with more men than women.

Canada now has a record 4.3 million seniors, increased life expectancy and a declining birth rate.

The country's median age -- the point where half the population is young and half older -- has soared to an all-time high of 39.5 years. That number was 38.8 last year.

The nation's over-80 population was the second-fastest growing group, increasing by more than 25 per cent to 1.2 million over five years. Centenarians, those aged 100 and over, jumped by 22 per cent since the last census.

The two demographics combine to give Canada its greatest proportion yet of what Statistics Canada calls the "very elderly.''

• The top three urban areas with the highest percentage of seniors are: Kelowna, B.C., Peterborough, Ont., and Victoria, B.C.
• The top three urban areas with the highest proportion of children are: Barrie, Ont., Oshawa, Ont., and Abbotsford, B.C.

Baby boomer movement

The trend of aging baby boomers (those born between 1946 and 1965) sets the stage for a powerful seniors' rights movement. The generation has always used its strength in numbers to reshape society.

Analysts say the latest figures will translate into a radically altered Canadian landscape as the boomers, the first of whom began turning 60 this year, continue to seize the agenda and begin to steer it toward issues that directly affect the elderly.

The health-care system, labour market, retirement homes and pension plans are just some of the areas where boomers will have considerable impact as they exert their unprecedented might, Statistics Canada said.

Bill Gleberzon of CARP, Canada's Association for the 50 Plus, notes "society has always adjusted itself'' to the boomers.

"When they were born, (society) went out and built more schools, more stadiums, they did all kinds of things to accommodate the fact that there was this large group of young people,'' Gleberzon said.

"They'll probably still be calling the tune into their older age.''

With files from The Canadian Press