Measuring what matters

County grows its population for first time in a decade

While many residents will be aware the population of Prince Edward County has remained stagnant for many years, and indeed has even seen population declines recently, those hoping for an upward trajectory will be pleased to learn that for the first time in at least a decade, the County’s population has finally grown. Current Census data (from the 2021 Census) shows Prince Edward County’s population grew by 3.9 per cent in the last five years. Not only has the County’s population grown, but it’s on an upswing, growing faster than the population of Ontario. In a presentation to the Community and Economic Development Committee recently, Anne VanVlack, Vital Signs Coordinator with the County Foundation, provided an overview of the Vital Signs reporting and why it is undertaken. She explained who uses the reports and why, and spoke to how the information serves the municipality and numerous stakeholders locally in data-based decision-making. What the Vital Signs reports do essentially is measure community vitality on issues that affect quality of life.

Collecting data, interpreting data, providing context to that data and sharing data is part of what the County Foundation undertakes in its Vital Signs reporting. VanVlack’s role is to source information, statistics and data from numerous sources, and she now keeps the Vital Signs reporting up to date on an on-going basis. “Context in the reports is really important because to understand what that data means, you have to draw out the context for it.” The data collected, while local, also uses Ontario data to understand trends and pinpoint gaps, areas of need and what those implications may mean. “In every case with Vital Signs, it also explains why a particular set of indicators matters, or what a trend means to our population and to our economy.”

The Vital Signs reports are issued every five years. The first came in 2013, with an update in 2015, with a full report again in 2018, and then a Covid update in 2021. Typically, the Vital Signs reporting follows a Census year to capture that important data, so the next Vital Signs report is due out in September and will capture the 2021 Census data.

However, instead of waiting five years for the next one, they will from now be published annually to help provide a more accurate picture of what’s happening in the local community. “Covid made it really apparent just how much current data is required for informed decision-making,” said VanVlack.

Interestingly, she notes there was some pushback when the first report was released in 2013. “It revealed some gaps in our community that may not have been widely acknowledged at that time in our community,” said VanVlack. “It brought to light that there were some significant gaps: food security was one of them, poverty, education—we are wellbelow provincial standards for high school graduation rates—and also the lack of public transportation was affecting the economy and many people’s opportunities.”

Vital Signs reporting isn’t just happening in Prince Edward County through the County Foundation, but it occurs all over Canada through 109 Foundations nationally. Each Foundation collects and reports the data differently depending on their individual community’s needs, and the County Foundation is no different. It works within a national framework, but tailors the information collected to the unique County community. “Essentially, it’s about measuring what matters, and that would be more on the socio-economic end for Prince Edward County,” says VanVlack. “It measures community vitality on issues that affect quality of life and promotes informed decision-making; it identifies trends and its shows our progress and changes over time, and also catalyzes knowledge into action in some areas.”

As with all statistical data collected, whether at the national, provincial or local level, the idea behind the work of the County Foundation in its Vital Signs data collection and reporting is to bring vital data at the local level and to show what’s happening in Prince Edward County. The information identifies trends, areas of need and deterioration, and highlights those areas that need attention. Armed with this information, decision- makers, such as Council, as well as community groups can make more informed decisions using local figures on how the community is changing. However, it’s not just Council and staff that use the reporting tool. Community leaders as well as funders find it useful to determine those areas of the community that stand out as more in need of help. “Local organizations use these statistics for grant applications and also for their advocacy.” The data covers a wide range of areas, such as community, housing, economy, health, education, safety, food security, transportation, and environment—an area that is expected to feature more prominently going forward.

The data bank, a relatively new project the County Foundation has been working on in the last year, is an online repository of County data. It’s a community resource that forms the basis for the Vital Signs reporting. While the data bank is still in its prototype stage, it is broad in content and will continue to grow and evolve thanks to the great work VanVlack and the team at the County Foundation are undertaking on an ongoing basis to ensure as much research and data as possible is accessed, collected and shared. While it uses Census data, for statistical purposes they look at sources from the national, provincial and municipal levels and also academic studies. “A lot of it is also qualitative data and that is drawn from local County service providers, so taking statistics and seeing what that means in our community.”

While some of the new data coming out shows the County’s population has grown for the first time in a long time, there are some concerning aspects. The youth population in Prince Edward County continues to decline (by 2.9 per cent since the last Census), along with the working-age population (down by 6.4 per cent), a concern potentially affecting the local labour force according to VanVlack. The overall population increase in the County is derived largely from the 65- plus age group, which grew by 17 per cent. There is some positive movement in some sectors, where, for example, those people identifying as Indigenous grew by 12 per cent. The local immigrant population grew by 2.3 per cent; visible minorities increased by 0.4 per cent.

Some of the challenges faced in compiling this kind of data is Census data only comes out every five years, which isn’t adequate for providing current local data. Additionally, VanVlack notes much of the key data they collect is often combined with surrounding regions for health care and education. “Our economic region and our social services are all combined with other areas,” she said. “Some of our data by being combined, particularly with Hastings County, so our health data for example could be skewed by combining those regions because our socio-economic differences are quite vast between the different areas in Hastings and Prince Edward County.

For anyone interested in statistics, the data bank makes for fascinating reading and exploration, but also for those who would like to see a living document, along with graphs and contextual descriptions showing just how Prince Edward County is faring in many different areas. It’s vital data and as a community resource is accessible to all at PECdata.ca. The Vital Signs reports are also public documents and are available for viewing on the County Foundation website at thecountyfoundation.ca/vital-signs.