Independent public information organisation · Ottawa, Ontario · Published in English and French

100%
Whab Public information observatory

Live dashboard

Indicator dashboard

Thirty-six indicators arranged into six panels. Each panel opens with the headline measures, then shows the series behind them. Filters narrow the view by settlement size; every chart keeps its own data table and can be operated by keyboard.

36 indicators 6 panels Refreshed 12 June 2026 Next scheduled refresh 11 September 2026
Settlement size 6 panels shown
Panel 00

Summary

The six measures most often requested by readers, with direction of travel over the last full year.

Resident population 41.6 million +1.42% year on year

All residents counted in the reference period.

Dwellings completed 212,600 +3.7% year on year

Units reported finished in the last four quarters.

Transit boardings 1,812 millions +3.7% year on year

Linked passenger trips across fourteen reporting systems.

Waste diverted 35.2 % +1.6 pt year on year

Share of residential waste kept out of landfill.

Broadband served 95.7 % of households +0.9 pt year on year

Households in an area offered 50/10 Mbps service.

Median service wait 11 days −2 days year on year

Median wait for a routine appointment at reporting public services.

Source Composite of published statistical releasesUpdated 12 June 2026Cadence MixedNote Direction of travel compares the last full year with the one before it
Panel 01

Population and households

How many people live here, how they are distributed by age, and how many households they form.

Components of population change

Net interprovincial movement sums to zero nationally by construction; it matters only at the provincial level, where it is shown separately in the topic collection.

Source Quarterly demographic estimatesUpdated 12 June 2026Cadence Quarterly
Median age 41.2 years +0.3 years

Half the population is older, half younger.

Average household size 2.41 persons −0.02

Occupied private dwellings divided by household population.

One-person households 29.8 % +0.4 pt

The most common household type since 2016.

Age structure, 2019 and 2025

Bands follow the standard reporting groups so the series stays comparable with agency publications.

Source Population estimates by age groupUpdated 12 June 2026Cadence Annual
Household composition

Shares total to 100 per cent. Household type is recorded at the dwelling level and does not describe family relationships beyond the dwelling.

Source Household reference tablesUpdated 30 April 2026Cadence Annual
Panel 02

Housing

Supply reaching the market, the mix of what is built, and the two affordability measures most often quoted.

Starts 241,300 units −1.8%

Foundations begun in the last four quarters.

Completions 212,600 units +3.7%

Units reported finished.

Under construction 348,900 units +2.1%

Open projects at the reference date.

Average build time 26.4 months +1.2 months

Start to completion, apartment structures.

Starts, completions and open projects

Starts and completions describe different moments in the same pipeline. In a period of lengthening build times the two series can move in opposite directions for several years without either being wrong.

Source National construction reportingUpdated 12 June 2026Cadence Monthly, aggregated to annual
Two affordability signals

Vacancy describes availability in purpose-built rental stock only. Rent-to-income describes the median renter household and says nothing about the distribution around it.

Source Rental market survey and income reference tablesUpdated 14 March 2026Cadence Annual
Tenure of occupied dwellings

Subsidised renting covers households in units where rent is set below market by a programme, regardless of who owns the building.

Source Housing tenure reference tablesUpdated 30 April 2026Cadence Annual
Panel 03

Transportation

Service supplied, trips taken, and the shifting mix of ways people reach work.

Boardings 1,812 millions +3.7%

Linked trips, fourteen systems.

Service hours 68.4 millions +2.2%

Scheduled revenue vehicle hours.

Protected bike lanes 4,180 km +8.6%

Physically separated from motor traffic.

Average commute 26.7 minutes −0.4 min

One-way, all modes, employed residents.

Ridership against service supplied

Service hours held up better than boardings through 2020 and 2021 because most systems maintained schedules for essential travel. Reading recovery from boardings alone overstates how much the network changed.

Source Transit agency operating statisticsUpdated 21 July 2026Cadence Monthly
Commuting mode, 2016 to 2025

Working at home is counted as a commuting category, not as an absence of commuting, which is why the shares still total 100 per cent.

Source Commuting reference tablesUpdated 30 April 2026Cadence Annual
Cycling network by facility type

Kilometres are counted per direction of travel. A two-way protected lane on one street counts twice, which is how the reporting municipalities record it.

Source Municipal active transportation inventoriesUpdated 8 May 2026Cadence Annual
Panel 04

Environment

Conditions measured at fixed stations, plus the household-level measures that people can act on.

Low-risk air days 312 days −4 days

Index in the low band at monitoring stations.

Tree canopy 27.4 % cover +0.3 pt

Leaf-on imagery, urban boundary.

Waste diverted 35.2 % +1.6 pt

Kept out of landfill.

Retrofits completed 148,900 homes +11.4%

Programme-supported upgrades.

A year of air quality, one dot per day

Each dot is a calendar day at the national station composite. Days in the moderate or high bands are left unfilled; a single wildfire episode can account for most of them.

Source Air quality monitoring networkUpdated 4 February 2026Cadence Annual
Residential waste destination

Only municipalities that reported in all five years are included, so the series describes a fixed group rather than the country as a whole.

Source Municipal waste reportingUpdated 8 May 2026Cadence Annual
Panel 05

Technology and connectivity

What service is offered, what is actually delivered, and how public services are reached.

50/10 Mbps served 95.7 % of households +0.9 pt

Service offered in the area.

Rural served 78.3 % of households +2.4 pt

Same standard, rural areas only.

Median download 184 Mbps +16.2%

Measured at the household, all technologies.

Digital service use 71.6 % of adults +3.1 pt

Used a public service online in the last year.

Broadband availability at 50/10 Mbps

Availability means a provider offers the service in that area. It does not mean a household has subscribed, can afford it, or receives the advertised speed at peak hours.

Source Regulator broadband availability filingsUpdated 21 April 2026Cadence Annual
Digital service use by age

The two measures are not opposites: many people use an online service and still prefer another channel for anything complicated, which is why the bars can exceed 100 per cent together.

Source Service channel survey summariesUpdated 21 April 2026Cadence Annual
Availability by province and territory

Territorial figures rest on a small number of service areas, so a single infrastructure project can move a territory by several points in one year.

Source Regulator broadband availability filingsUpdated 21 April 2026Cadence Annual
Panel 06

Public services

Capacity and use across the services people encounter most often.

Library visits 3.1 per resident +8.4%

In-person branch visits.

Regulated childcare 38.6 spaces per 100 children +1.9

Ages 0 to 5, licensed spaces.

Median wait 11 days −2 days

Routine appointment, reporting services.

Service points 9,240 locations +0.3%

Staffed public service counters.

Library use, in person and online

Digital sessions include catalogue searches, so a single visit can generate several. The two series answer different questions and should not be added together.

Source Public library annual returnsUpdated 19 March 2026Cadence Annual
Childcare spaces per 100 children, by settlement size

Spaces are counted where they are licensed, not where children live, so commuter areas can show a surplus that families do not experience.

Source Provincial childcare registriesUpdated 19 March 2026Cadence Annual
Reading these panels

Four cautions

Comparability across panels

Panels draw on different sources with different reference dates. Two panels on this page can describe the same year and still disagree slightly, because one counts at mid-year and the other at year end. Where that happens the panel note says so.

Revisions are normal

Statistical agencies revise. A figure that changes after publication is usually a sign the process is working. Revised values carry a marker and the previous value stays in the revision log.

Small denominators

Territories and small municipalities have small populations. Rates built on them move sharply for reasons that have nothing to do with policy. Read the count alongside the rate.

Nothing here is a forecast

Every series ends at the last observed period. We do not extend lines forward, and a rising series is not a prediction that it will keep rising.