The latest release of census data is giving insight into the reasons for Canada's shortage of workers.
According to Statistics Canada's latest figures, "never before has the number of people nearing retirement been so high."
People aged 55-64 make up 21.8 per cent of the workforce.
The youngest of the "baby boomers" are now 56-64. The number of people aged 65 and older rose 18.3 per cent since the last census and the number of people over 85 has doubled since 2001. Projections say that number could triple by 2046.
Despite our population getting older, Stats Can says we still have one of the youngest populations among G7 countries.
While the pandemic did slow population growth in all age categories, the report says it did not have a significant impact on population aging.
The latest figures also look at the different types of dwellings and that's also being affected by the aging population. Small and large urban centres still have younger populations on average, according to the data, with only 18.2 per cent aged 65 and older. Outside of these centres, those 65 and up make up 23.2 per cent of the population.
The number of apartments in high-rise buildings grew by 14.7 per cent, more than twice as fast as the total number of private dwellings, which were up by 6.4 per cent since the previous census.