40
similar, at 4.4 per cent. However it represents a much smaller share of the population who went
to university (21.8 per cent).
The average number of years of schooling13 among the Aboriginal population in 2001
was 11.09 years, whereas it was 12.68 years for the non-Aboriginal population, a gap of 14.3 per
cent. Younger age groups are more likely to have more years of education.14 Using a cross-
section decomposed by age, we can roughly observe the evolution in the average number of
years of schooling through time. For example, 30 years ago, in 1971, the current 55 to 64 group
was aged between 25 and 34 years. Thus, we can compare how educational attainment evolved
since 1971 using the groups aged 55-64 group (1971), 45-54 (1981), 35-44 (1991) and the 2001
group aged 25-34. As Chart 7a and 7b illustrate, the trend in the proportion of Aboriginal
Canadians who completed high school and the average years of schooling of the Aboriginal
population are both clearly increasing through time. For example, only 44.0 per cent of the 1971
Aboriginal cohort had completed high school compared to 65.6 per cent for the 2001 cohort
(Chart 7a). Similarly, while the 1971 cohort had only an average of 9.38 years of schooling, the
2001 cohort had an average of 12.06 years. Both indicators, however, show a slower progression
for later cohorts than for earlier cohorts. For example, the 1981 Aboriginal cohort had on
average 1.96 more years of schooling than the 1971 Aboriginal cohort whereas the 2001
Aboriginal cohort experienced an increase of only 0.39 years over the 1991 cohort.
Chart 8: The Gap in Educational Attainment Between the Aboriginal and
Census 2001
The gap refers to the difference between the average number of years of education that Non-Aboriginals attain compared to the corresponding
13 This was calculated from the Census 2001 Public Use Micro-data Files. Some respondent provided a direct
number of years of schooling (e.g. —11 years”), but when the response was in a range of years (e.g. —Between 0 and
5 years”), the mid-point in the category was used as the value (in the last example, 2.5 years).
14 Note that the 15 to 24 group is not presented because it includes many young people who have not yet completed
their education.