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More information on Census metropolitan area and census agglomeration influenced zones (MIZ)

Censuses:

2006, 2001

Remarks:

The MIZ is a concept applied, for statistical analysis purposes, to CSDs outside CMAs and CAs. Previously all CSDs in Canada were either a component of a CMA or CA or not (outside CMAs and CAs). The MIZ provides users with a more detailed geographic identity for the CSDs outside CMAs and CAs. As with CMAs and CAs, the allocation of a CSD to a MIZ category was determined using commuting flows of the resident employed labour force derived from the 2001 Census place of work data.

The calculation of the commuting flows for MIZ differs somewhat from the calculation used for CSD inclusion in CMAs/CAs. The percentages of the resident employed labour force living in a particular CSD outside CMAs and CAs and working in the urban core of any CMA/CA are combined to determine the degree of influence that one or more CMAs/CAs have on that CSD, as follows:

  1. The strong MIZ category includes CSDs with a commuting flow of 30% or more (at least 30% of the resident employed labour force living in the CSD works in any CMA/CA urban core).
  2. The moderate MIZ category includes CSDs with a commuting flow percentage between 5% and 30% (at least 5%, but less than 30% of the resident employed labour force living in the municipality works in any CMA/CA urban core).
  3. The weak MIZ category includes CSDs with a commuting flow percentage more than 0%, but less than 5% (more than 0%, but less than 5% of the resident employed labour force living in the municipality works in any CMA/CA urban core).
  4. The no MIZ category includes those CSDs with either fewer than 40 people in the resident employed labour force (where data suppression rules apply) or no people commuting to work in CMA/CA urban cores.

Table 3 shows the number of census subdivisions by MIZ category for Canada, provinces and territories.

Table 3 Number of census subdivisions by the Statistical Area Classification, 2006 Census

Refer to the related definitions of census metropolitan area (CMA) and census agglomeration (CA); census subdivision (CSD); Statistical Area Classification (SAC); and urban core, urban fringe and rural fringe, and to the geographic working paper entitled Census Metropolitan Area and Census Agglomeration Influenced Zones (MIZ): A Description of the Methodology (Catalogue no. 92F0138MIE2000002).

Changes prior to the current census:

Not applicable