Highlights

In 2021, 97,625 Canadians were reported in the census as serving in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) as members of the Regular Force or Primary Reserve Force.

For more than 100 years, women have contributed to Canada’s military heritage and, in 2021, almost one-fifth of currently serving Canadian military personnel enumerated in the census were women.

The CAF were younger on average (36.2 years old) than the employed labour force overall (41.9), but currently serving women were older than their male counterparts.

Ontario (35.4%) and Quebec (20.2%) had the highest share of currently serving military personnel.

Belleville–Quinte West and Kingston had the largest share of military personnel among Canada’s census metropolitan areas, given that they are both in close proximity to military bases.

In 2021, 461,240 Canadians were counted as Veterans in the census.
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