Jean Levac/Canwest News ServiceCensus figures reveals that the aboriginal population is getting younger and has grown by 45% over the past decade

OTTAWA -- More than one million Canadians now identify themselves as aboriginal and about half of them are under the age of 24, says a report released on Tuesday by Statistics Canada.

The new analysis of the 2006 Census figures reveals that the aboriginal population is getting younger and has grown by 45% over the past decade, about six times faster than the 8% growth rate for the rest of Canada's population.

"They... have higher birth rates compared to the non-aboriginal population, but there's other factors too [that are] non-demographic," said Jane Badets, director of the social and aboriginal statistics division at Statistics Canada, in an interview.

In total, the report said that 1,172,790 people identified themselves either as a North American Indian (First Nations), Metis or Inuit, up from 976,305 people in 2001.

The report notes that 54% of aboriginal people now live urban areas, up from 50% in 1996. In the three aboriginal groups combined, 48% of the people are under the age of 24, while in the rest of the Canadian population, only 31% are under 24.

While the percentage of aboriginal people living in crowded homes with more than one person per room dropped from 17% to 11% over the past decade, one in four still live in a home that is in need of major repairs, the report says.

"It's a diverse population," said Ms. Badets. "That's important to remember. There's First Nations, Metis and Inuit, and where they live varies across the country and their conditions vary depending on the population."

Many native languages also appear to be suffering a decline, according to the analysis.

"It is stronger among the older generation, and in general that's what we saw," said Ms. Badets. "In terms of the First Nations going off [a] reserve, they had reported a lower proportion who could speak an aboriginal language compared to those living on reserves. So that's the trend. We've seen it for about 10 years."

The aboriginal group with the fastest growth is the Metis, which saw their population nearly double in size over the past decade up to 389,785 in 2006. The dramatic rise is mainly due to an increase in people who are now identifying themselves as a part of this group for the first time. But more than 97% of Metis who are under 45 said they do not speak an aboriginal language.

The Inuit population increased by 26 per cent to 50,485, and although 69% said they could speak Inuktitut, only 50% of these said they spoke it at home in 2006, versus 58% in 1996.

The North American Indians group saw a 29% increase in its population over the last decade, reaching 698,025 people. Only 29% of them could speak one of the 60 recorded aboriginal languages over the last decade. Cree was the most common one.

The Statistics Canada analysis says some of the recorded population growth is due to a higher birth rate, as well as an increase in the number of people who identify themselves as an aboriginal. The analysis notes as well that some reserves and settlements did not participate in the census in the past, although the number of incompletely enumerated reserves has dropped from 77 to 22 over the past decade. It mainly represents about 37,000 people in Mohawk communities according to preliminary estimates, said Badets.

Nearly eight out of 10 aboriginal people in Canada live in provinces west of Quebec, according to the report. Winnipeg is the city with the largest aboriginal population with 68,380 people, followed by Edmonton with 52,100 and Vancouver with 40,310. Toronto and Calgary each have 26,575 aboriginal people, the report says.

Aboriginal people comprise 3.8% of the total Canadian population, ranking second behind New Zealand, whose aboriginal population makes up 15% of its total. Australia and the U.S. are slightly behind Canada at 2%.