Bilingual Teens almost double in Canada over past 15 years

<%@LANGUAGE="JAVASCRIPT" CODEPAGE="1252"%> Bilingual Teens almost double in Canada over past 15 years

Bilingual Teens double in Canada over past 15 years

Percentage of bilingual teenagers
(ages 15-19) 1981 and 1996*

YEAR	1981	1996
Canada	17.7	24.4
Newfoundland	4.2	11.2
P.E.I.	8.7	23.5
Nova Scotia	9.4	18.8
New Brunswick	29.2	49.3
Quebec	32.4	41.9
Ontario	15.2	20.2
Manitoba	9.9	18.0
Saskatchewan	5.7	10.7
Alberta	8.0	13.6
British Columbia	8.3	14.3
Yuko	10.3	18.2
Northwest Territories	3.8	7.8

In almost every province and territory, the percentage of bilingual teenagers aged 15 to 19 has almost doubled since 1981.

Prince Edward Island demonstrates the largest pro-portional growth, with Newfoundland almost tripling its number of bilingual teens during the 15-year span.

New Brunswick has the highest percentage of bilingual teens among all the provinces. Quebec and Ontario also have high numbers of bilingual teens, at 42 and 20 per cent of the entire teen population aged 15-19, respectively.

* Statistics Canada, Census of Canada, 1991 and 1996.
Cited in COMMISSIONER OF OFFICIAL LANGUAGES
Annual Report 1998, p. 117.