FACTS OF LIFE

• According to the 2006 census, the number of Canadians aged 65 and over increased 11.5 per cent in the previous five years. (Canadian Press/Ryan Remiorz)

••     The sharp increase can be attributed to Canada's aging baby boomers, who account for close to one-third of the country's 32 million people.

••     There are also more senior citizens than ever - more than 4.3 million. That's the first time in the country's history there are more than four million people aged 65 or older. 

••     To put the numbers in perspective, one out of every seven Canadians was a senior when the census was taken in 2006. Fifty years ago, that proportion was about one in 14.

••     Even those within the population of seniors are getting older. Canadians aged over 80 were the second-fastest growing group in the most recent census period - increasing by more than 25 per cent to 1.2 million.

••     Canada has its largest proportion yet of what Statistics Canada calls the "very elderly," a fact helped by a jump in the number of people aged 100 or more, a fact Bender called surprising.

••     "There are over 4,600 centenarians in Canada. This is ... more than we observed five years ago."