Annual Estimate of the Number of Households in Canada

Question

Where can I find an annual estimate of the number of households in Canada? (1990 - present)

Answers

1. How close would CANSIM table 051-0003 come to satisfying your patrons needs? It provides estimates of the number of census families annually from 1986 to 2004. Census families are different from households. The STC definition for household
is "a person or group of persons who occupy the same dwelling and do not have a usual place of residence elsewhere in Canada
or abroad."

http://www.statcan.ca/english/concepts/definitions/household.htm

On the other hand, the definition of census family is "a now-married couple, a common-law couple or a lone-parent with a child or youth who is under the age of 25 and who does not have his or her own spouse or child living in the household."

http://www.statcan.ca/english/concepts/definitions/cen-family.htm

Table 051-0003 would miss out on all single individuals in its estimates. But maybe your patron would be willing to go with census families.

2. The first answer is a nice alternative to the number of households. The closest I was able to find was 1997-2004 from the Survey of Household Spending on CANSIM. It has the estimated number of households, but would still leave you short from 1990-1997. The surveys which SHS replaces were only performed every four years or so, which still leaves a gap for your series.

3. You can find the estimated number of households, in the publication FP markets. Canadian demographics, 1998- It was known as Canadian markets from 1985 up to 1998 and it is publish by Financial post. Hope it can help!