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A Century of Demographic Ageing in Arctic Canada (1950–2050)

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Abstract

The aim of this study is to identify the major characteristics of demographic ageing in the Canadian Arctic - Yukon, Nunavut, and Northwest Territories (NWT) - in the period 1950 to 2050. We measure ageing first conventionally, based on "chronological" age, as a point of comparison for results obtained applying new measures of ageing based on "prospective" age. The latter takes into account upward changes in life expectancy and longevity over recent decades. The findings are discussed for the territories with the oldest and youngest average ages, the regions ageing the fastest and slowest, for both sexes and (to some extent) across ethnic differences. The paper considers whether the territories of Arctic Canada are converging or diverging in their ageing pathways and the links between the northern and nationwide patterns were traced. We find that NWT and Nunavut are the youngest and are diverging from nationwide ageing dynamics while Yukon is no longer different from the rest of Canada. The results of this study can help devise policies for coping with the population ageing in the Arctic part of Canada.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Prof. Warren Sanderson and Sergei Scherbov for the invention of the prospective ageing methodology. The authors also thank the Canadian Human Mortality Database as well as Statistics Canada for sharing population data. Constructive suggestions from the editor and two anonymous reviewers have been of high beneficence to the quality and clarity of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of the Arctic Thematic Networks & Research Liaison Office, Thule Institute, University of Oulu, Paavo Havaksen tie 3, Oulu, Finland

    Anastasia Emelyanova & Arja Rautio

  2. Arctic Futures Initiative / World Population Program, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Schlossplatz 1, A-2361, Laxenburg, Austria

    Anastasia Emelyanova

Authors
  1. Anastasia Emelyanova
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  2. Arja Rautio
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Correspondence to Anastasia Emelyanova.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Appendix

Appendix

Table 4 Population ageing indicators for Arctic Canada, by sex, 1950–2050
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Emelyanova, A., Rautio, A. A Century of Demographic Ageing in Arctic Canada (1950–2050). Population Ageing 12, 25–50 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12062-017-9211-5

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