By Sheldon Spackman

Demographic Insights

Lacombe still growing, but getting older: Report

Oct 29, 2019 | 1:40 PM

Shifting demographics in Lacombe reveal an aging population in the city in recent years.

According to 2016 Federal Census data presented to city council on Monday, the percentage of Lacombe’s population that was 65 or older grew from 14.39 per cent in 2011 to 15.75 percent in 2016.

At the same time, the percentage of children and youth in the community (0-19 years) dropped slightly from 27.97 per cent in 2011, to 27.42 per cent in 2016.

Those considered to be part of the community’s workforce (20-64 years) saw their percentage of the population fall slightly from 57.64 per cent in 2011, to 56.83 per cent in 2016.

City planner Jennifer Kirchner says the purpose of gathering and sharing the data is to gain additional insight into what types of people make up their community.

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“This was just a first step to take a look at the information that’s available, mainly the Federal Census,” says Kirchner. “The long-form census, which I’m sure people dread getting, provides a lot of information that helps you get a better understanding of who is in your community – ages, types of education, original location of birth, through to economics.”

Kirchner notes that an aging population is expected in the majority of communities across Canada as baby boomers slowly reach the age of 65 over the next decade.

“But we also have a pretty strong segment of our population that is children and youth,” adds Kirchner. “That paints a picture that we’re still getting young families choosing to live in the community, and that creates a nice kind of off-set to the individuals who are aging out of the workforce. So we’re having a bit of a replacement of those individuals and a nice balance between seniors and youth as well.”

With an aging population, though, Kirchner admits planners will be looking closely at the types of housing and services made available to residents moving forward.

“Obviously in the present, we have a new senior’s complex that’s being built in the north end, so that type of housing will service that population as they continue to increase,” she explains. “It will help give us a bit of an idea of what type of housing applications we might see in the future, if there are any housing-need gaps for that age group, but also it can help council take a look at the type of programming and servicing that might have increased demands in the future based on that age group.”

Kirchner says two additional presentations will be made over the next couple of weeks that she says will touch on the community’s diversity, as well as education and economics, information Kirchner says will benefit those running a business or non-profit.

“Which will help indicate the number of people who might be below the poverty line and challenges and needs that they might have as well,” adds Kirchner. “So it’s a first step to kind of highlight what information is there. Then after all those reports are done, it’ll be a bit easier to determine what information might need to be corrected or gathered to fill in the gaps that might exist.”

According to the 2016 Federal Census, the City of Lacombe’s population increased 8.9 per cent from 2011-2016, to a total of 13,057 residents.