Facts about Canada - Interesting Canadian Facts

The USA buys more oil from Canada than from Saudi Arabia.

Of Canada's 32 million people, 5.5 million are immigrants. 3 million immigrants live in Ontario, 1 million in British Columbia and 700,000 in Quebec.

16 percent of Canada's population are immigrants. 27 percent of Ontrario's , 26 percent of British Columbia's and 15 percent of Alberta's residents are immigrants. The provinces with the lowest proportions of immigrants are Newfoundland and Labrador (1.6 percent,) Prince Edward Island (3.1 percent) and New Brunswick (3.1 percent).

Including those produced for hatching, Canada's farms produce around 7 billion eggs each year.

Basketball was invented by a Canadian - Dr. James Naismith. He invented the game while working in Boston as a means of keeping college students fit during the winter months.

Ontario, with 12.5 million people has the largest population of any of Canada's states. Quebec, with 7.6 million people is next most populous.

Quebec is the biggest of Canada's main provinces and covers 1,365,128 square kilometres. (Nunavut, in the far north is bigger, at 1,936,113 square kilometres.) Quebec is 2.7 times bigger than France and 6 times bigger than the UK.

Canadians call their currency The Loonie. This has less to do with insanity than the picture of the common loon - a Canadian bird - on the back of the coin. The picture of Queen Elizabeth on the front of the coin has not yet inspired the nickname of The Queenie or the Lizzie.

The Royal Canadian Mint is located in Winnipeg, Manitoba. At full production, 15 million coins can be produced there each day.

The average person in Canada watches 14 hours of television per week. Most TV is watched in Newfoundland and Labrador (18.9 hours per week) and least in Nova Scotia (12.9 hours per week). Canadians spend 37 percent of their TV watching time watching Canadian produced programmes and 63 percent watching foreign programmes.

8.4 percent of Canadians suffer from asthma. Rates are highest in Nova Scotia (9.1 percent) and lowest in Newfoundland and Labrador (6.6 percent).

The top 10 countries Australian goods are exported to are: Japan, USA, China, New Zealand, South Korea, UK, Taiwan, Singapore, India, Hong Kong SAR.

Canada's highest temperature, 45 degrees C (113 degrees F), was recorded at Midale, Saskatchewan. The lowest temperature was minus 63 degrees C (minus 81 degrees F) measured high at Snag, Yukon Territory.

There are around 11.5 million households in Canada. Of these, 6.6 million (57 percent) are detached houses. The lowest proportions of households living in detached houses are found in Quebec (46 percent,) British Columbia (55 percent) and Ontario (58 percent). The highest proportions of detached houses are found in Saskatchewan (76 percent,) Newfoundland & Labrador (75 percent) and New Brunswick (73 percent).

The original Star Trek owes much to Canada. Two of its stars - William Shatner (Captain Kirk) and James Doohan (Scotty) came from Canada.

21.5 percent of Canadians are smokers. The province where smoking is least popular is British Columbia (16.3 percent). Quebec and Newfoundland & Labrador have the highest proportions of smokers, at 24.9 percent.

When data were last recorded in 2004, the median total income for a Canadian household was $58,000. Households in Newfoundland and Labrador had the lowest median income ($46,100). The highest median incomes were found in the Northwest Territories ($79,800). The highest median incomes in the more populated states were found in Alberta ($66,400).

Canadian men born in the last few years can expect to live to around 77 years and women to 84 years.

In the 15 to 64 age groups, Canada has 101 males for every 100 females.

Canada is home to 15 million cattle, around 6 million of which live in Alberta.

Canada is the word's second largest country, with an area of 9,984,670 square kilometres. That's slightly larger than the continuous United States which is 9,631,420 square kilometres. Canada is over 40 times bigger than the UK and 18 times bigger than France.

Canadian fertility (1.6 babies per woman) is lower than that of the USA (2.1) and similar to that of the UK (1.6). Japan (1.3) and Germany (1.4) have lower fertility rates.

4.1 percent of Canadians suffer from diabetes. Rates are highest in Newfoundland and Labrador (5.8 percent) and lowest in Alberta (3.4 percent).

The top 5 countries visited by Canadians are:

United States
United Kingdom
Mexico
France
Cuba

The top 5 countries of origin for visitors to Canada are:

United States
United Kingdom
Japan
France
Germany