Censuses provide population numbers, household or family size and composition, and information on sex and age distribution. They often include other demographic, economic and health-related topics as well.

The 2011 Canada Population and Housing Census took place in May 2011. Respondents were given the choice of completing an online questionnaire or requesting a paper copy, and only a short-form questionnaire was used in this census. The questions matched that of the 2006 version with the exception of two questions on language added for 2011. The population at the time of the census was 33,476,690.