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Canada Country Guide
Explore Canada in North America
Canada with the capital city Ottawa is located in North America (Northern North America, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean on the east). It covers some 9,984,670 square kilometres (slightly larger than the US) with 33,679,000 citizens.
The terrain features mostly plains with mountains in west and lowlands in southeast. The average density of population is approximately 3 per km². The notable climate conditions in Canada can be described as varies from temperate in south to subarctic and arctic in north. Potential natural disasters are continuous permafrost in north is a serious obstacle to development or cyclonic storms form east of the Rocky Mountains, a result of the mixing of air masses from the Arctic, Pacific, and North American interior, and produce most of the country's rain and snow east of the mountains.
To reach someone in Canada dial +1 prior to a number. There are 18,251,000 installed telephones. And there are 23,081,000 registered mobile phones. The cellular networks commonly support frequencies of 850/1900 MHz. Websites registered in this country end with the top level domain ".ca". If you want to bring electric equipment on your trip (e.g. laptop power supply), note the local power outlet of 120V - 60Hz.
About the flag and history of Canada
Two vertical bands of red (hoist and fly side, half width) with white square between them; an 11-pointed red maple leaf is centered in the white square; the maple leaf has long been a Canadian symbol; the official colors of Canada are red and white.
A land of vast distances and rich natural resources, Canada became a self-governing dominion in 1867 while retaining ties to the British crown. Economically and technologically, the nation has developed in parallel with the US, its neighbor to the south across the world's longest unfortified border. Canada faces the political challenges of meeting public demands for quality improvements in health care, education, social services, and economic competitiveness, as well as responding to the particular concerns of predominantly francophone Quebec. Canada also aims to develop its diverse energy resources while maintaining its commitment to the environment.
Geography Quick-Facts
| Summary | Continent: North America Neighbours: United States Capital: Ottawa |
| Size | 9,984,670 square kilometers (km² or sqkm) or 3,855,102 square miles (mi² or sqmi) slightly larger than the US |
| Population | 33,679,000 |
| Currency | Name Dollar, Currency Code:CAD |
| Country Top Level Domain (cTLD) | .ca |
| Telephone Country Prefix | +1 |
| Mobile Phone Connections | 23,081,000 |
| Landline Phone Connections | 18,251,000 |
Country Position in World Rankings
Information about single country attributes and how these compare against the rest of the world. The information below is compiled with data from 2013. As such, it may differ a bit to the Information above in the text (which is from 2010).
Geography
| Value name | Value | World Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Area | 9,984,670 (sq km) | 2 |
People and Society
| Value name | Value | World Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Population | 34,568,211 | 37 |
| Population growth rate | 0.77 (%) | 136 |
| Birth rate | 10.28 (births/1,000 population) | 187 |
| Death rate | 8.20 (deaths/1,000 population) | 91 |
| Net migration rate | 5.65 (migrant(s)/1,000 population) | 21 |
| Maternal mortality rate | 12.00 (deaths/100,000 live births) | 150 |
| Infant mortality rate | 4.78 (deaths/1,000 live births) | 182 |
| Life expectancy at birth | 81.57 (years) | 13 |
| Total fertility rate | 1.59 (children born/woman) | 180 |
| Health expenditures | 11.30 (% of GDP) | 15 |
| HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate | 0.30 (%) | 88 |
| HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS | 68,000 | 49 |
| HIV/AIDS - deaths | 1,000 | 69 |
| Obesity - adult prevalence rate | 26.20 (%) | 48 |
| Education expenditures | 5.00 (% of GDP) | 78 |
| Unemployment, youth ages 15-24 | 14.10 (%) | 92 |
Economy
| Value name | Value | World Rank |
|---|---|---|
| GDP (purchasing power parity) | 1,513,000,000,000 | 14 |
| GDP - real growth rate | 1.80 (%) | 142 |
| GDP - per capita (PPP) | 43,400 | 19 |
| Labor force | 18,850,000 | 32 |
| Unemployment rate | 7.30 (%) | 80 |
| Distribution of family income - Gini index | 32.10 | 103 |
| Investment (gross fixed) | 23.70 (% of GDP) | 60 |
| Taxes and other revenues | 37.30 (% of GDP) | 55 |
| Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-) | -3.70 (% of GDP) | 127 |
| Public debt | 84.10 (% of GDP) | 22 |
| Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 1.80 (%) | 28 |
| Central bank discount rate | 0.25 (%) | 141 |
| Commercial bank prime lending rate | 3.00 (%) | 177 |
| Stock of narrow money | 702,300,000,000 | 9 |
| Stock of broad money | 1,523,000,000,000 | 13 |
| Stock of domestic credit | 3,046,000,000,000 | 9 |
| Market value of publicly traded shares | 2,160,000,000,000 | 7 |
| Industrial production growth rate | 3.70 (%) | 77 |
| Current account balance | -59,920,000,000 | 190 |
| Exports | 481,700,000,000 | 11 |
| Imports | 480,900,000,000 | 12 |
| Reserves of foreign exchange and gold | 65,820,000,000 | 31 |
| Debt - external | 1,326,000,000,000 | 15 |
| Stock of direct foreign investment - at home | 624,500,000,000 | 10 |
| Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad | 703,000,000,000 | 11 |
Energy
| Value name | Value | World Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Electricity - production | 580,600,000,000 (kWh) | 8 |
| Electricity - consumption | 504,800,000,000 (kWh) | 9 |
| Electricity - exports | 43,910,000,000 (kWh) | 5 |
| Electricity - imports | 18,790,000,000 (kWh) | 9 |
| Electricity - installed generating capacity | 131,500,000 (kW) | 8 |
| Electricity - from fossil fuels | 28.80 (% of total installed capacity) | 181 |
| Electricity - from nuclear fuels | 10.10 (% of total installed capacity) | 20 |
| Electricity - from hydroelectric plants | 57.00 (% of total installed capacity) | 35 |
| Electricity - from other renewable sources | 3.90 (% of total installed capacity) | 44 |
| Crude oil - production | 3,592,000 (bbl/day) | 7 |
| Crude oil - exports | 1,355,000 (bbl/day) | 12 |
| Crude oil - imports | 791,100 (bbl/day) | 16 |
| Crude oil - proved reserves | 173,600,000,000 (bbl) | 4 |
| Refined petroleum products - production | 1,978,000 (bbl/day) | 11 |
| Refined petroleum products - consumption | 2,259,000 (bbl/day) | 12 |
| Refined petroleum products - exports | 437,300 (bbl/day) | 19 |
| Refined petroleum products - imports | 282,200 (bbl/day) | 25 |
| Natural gas - production | 160,100,000,000 (cu m) | 5 |
| Natural gas - consumption | 103,300,000,000 (cu m) | 8 |
| Natural gas - exports | 92,720,000,000 (cu m) | 6 |
| Natural gas - imports | 30,490,000,000 (cu m) | 15 |
| Natural gas - proved reserves | 1,727,000,000,000 (cu m) | 22 |
| Carbon dioxide emissions from consumption of energy | 548,800,000 (Mt) | 10 |
Communications
| Value name | Value | World Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Telephones - main lines in use | 18,201,000 | 16 |
| Telephones - mobile cellular | 27,387,000 | 37 |
| Internet hosts | 8,743,000 | 14 |
| Internet users | 26,960,000 | 16 |
Transportation
| Value name | Value | World Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Airports | 1,453 | 4 |
| Railways | 46,552 (km) | 5 |
| Roadways | 1,042,300 (km) | 6 |
| Waterways | 636 (km) | 78 |
| Merchant marine | 181 | 35 |
Military
| Value name | Value | World Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Military expenditures | 1.10 (% of GDP) | 119 |
Data based on CIA facts book 2010 & 2013, wikipedia, national statistical offices and their census releases
List of current world heritage sites
| Name | Since |
|---|---|
| Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks The contiguous national parks of Banff, Jasper, Kootenay and Yoho, as well as the Mount Robson, Mount Assiniboine and Hamber provincial parks, studded with mountain peaks, glaciers, lakes, waterfalls, canyons and limestone caves, form a striking moun ... | 1984 |
| Dinosaur Provincial Park In addition to its particularly beautiful scenery, Dinosaur Provincial Park – located at the heart of the province of Alberta's badlands – contains some of the most important fossil discoveries ever made from the 'Age of Reptiles', in particular abou ... | 1979 |
| Gros Morne National Park Situated on the west coast of the island of Newfoundland, the park provides a rare example of the process of continental drift, where deep ocean crust and the rocks of the earth's mantle lie exposed. More recent glacial action has resulted in some sp ... | 1987 |
| Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump In south-west Alberta, the remains of marked trails and an aboriginal camp, and a tumulus where vast quantities of buffalo (American Bison) skeletons can still be found, are evidence of a custom practised by aboriginal peoples of the North American p ... | 1981 |
| Historic District of Old Québec Québec was founded by the French explorer Champlain in the early 17th century. It is the only North American city to have preserved its ramparts, together with the numerous bastions, gates and defensive works which still surround Old Québec. The Uppe ... | 1985 |
| Joggins Fossil Cliffs The Joggins Fossil Cliffs, a 689 ha palaeontological site along the coast of Nova Scotia (eastern Canada), have been described as the “coal age Galápagos” due to their wealth of fossils from the Carboniferous period (354 to 290 million years ago). Th ... | 2008 |
| Kluane / Wrangell-St. Elias / Glacier Bay / Tatshenshini-Alsek These parks comprise an impressive complex of glaciers and high peaks on both sides of the border between Canada (Yukon Territory and British Columbia) and the United States (Alaska). The spectacular natural landscapes are home to many grizzly bears, ... | 1979 |
| Landscape of Grand Pré Situated in the southern Minas Basin of Nova Scotia, the Grand Pré marshland and archaeological sites constitute a cultural landscape bearing testimony to the development of agricultural farmland using dykes and the aboiteau wooden sluice system, sta ... | 2012 |
| L’Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site At the tip of the Great Northern Peninsula of the island of Newfoundland, the remains of an 11th-century Viking settlement are evidence of the first European presence in North America. The excavated remains of wood-framed peat-turf buildings are simi ... | 1978 |
| Miguasha National Park The palaeontological site of Miguasha National Park, in south-eastern Quebec on the southern coast of the Gaspé peninsula, is considered to be the world's most outstanding illustration of the Devonian Period known as the 'Age of Fishes'. Dating from ... | 1999 |
| Nahanni National Park Located along the South Nahanni River, one of the most spectacular wild rivers in North America, this park contains deep canyons and huge waterfalls, as well as a unique limestone cave system. The park is also home to animals of the boreal forest, su ... | 1978 |
| Old Town Lunenburg Lunenburg is the best surviving example of a planned British colonial settlement in North America. Established in 1753, it has retained its original layout and overall appearance, based on a rectangular grid pattern drawn up in the home country. The ... | 1995 |
| Red Bay Basque Whaling Station Red Bay, established by Basque mariners in the 16th century at the north-eastern tip of Canada on the shore of the Strait of Belle Isle is an archaeological site that provides the earliest, most complete and best preserved testimony of the European w ... | 2013 |
| Rideau Canal The Rideau Canal, a monumental early 19th-century construction covering 202 km of the Rideau and Cataraqui rivers from Ottawa south to Kingston Harbour on Lake Ontario, was built primarily for strategic military purposes at a time when Great Britain ... | 2007 |
| SGang Gwaay The village of Ninstints (Nans Dins) is located on a small island off the west coast of the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii). Remains of houses, together with carved mortuary and memorial poles, illustrate the Haida people's art and way of life. ... | 1981 |
| Waterton Glacier International Peace Park In 1932 Waterton Lakes National Park (Alberta, Canada) was combined with the Glacier National Park (Montana, United States) to form the world's first International Peace Park. Situated on the border between the two countries and offering outstanding ... | 1995 |
| Wood Buffalo National Park Situated on the plains in the north-central region of Canada, the park (which covers 44,807 km2) is home to North America's largest population of wild bison. It is also the natural nesting place of the whooping crane. Another of the park's attraction ... | 1983 |