Canadian Marginalization Index (CAN-Marg)-Home

Archived Note (as of November 14, 2023)

Please be advised that the Canadian Marginalization Index developed by St. Michael Hospital will not be updated past the current 2016 version available on the OCHPP website. However, Statistics Canada has created the Canadian Index of Multiple Deprivation (CIMD) modelled on the Canadian Marginalization Index including provincial indexes as well as regional ones where numbers are not sufficient to allow creation of provincial indexes.

The 2021 version of the CIMD is scheduled to be published to the Statistics Canada website on November 10th 2023. If you have questions concerning the CIMD please direct them to: Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics general mailbox to be routed correctly. The email address is: statcan.ccjcss-ccsjsc.statcan@statcan.gc.ca

The Canadian Marginalization Index (CAN-Marg) is an index that seeks to:

show differences in marginalization between areas, and
understand inequalities in various measures of health and social well-being, either between population groups or between geographical areas

CAN-Marg combines a wide range of area-level census indicators into four distinct dimensions of marginalization in urban and rural Canada. The 2016 edition of CAN-Marg uses the same dimensions as the 2006 version, with updated names. After consultation, we changed the names of the dimensions to avoid the deficit-based language used in the previous versions; the names now closely align with the census measures that comprise each dimension.

Households and dwellings (previously called 'Residential instability'): Includes indicators that measure types and density of residential accommodations, and certain family structure characteristics, such as % living alone and % dwellings not owned.
Material resources (previously called 'Material deprivation'): Includes indicators that measure access to and attainment of basic material needs, such as % unemployment and % without a high school degree.
Age and labour force (previously called 'Dependency'): Includes indicators to describe % seniors (65+), the dependency ratio (the ratio of seniors and children to the population 15-64) and % not participating in the labour force.
Immigration and visible minority (previously called 'Ethnic concentration'): Includes indicators to describe % recent immigrants and % who self-identify as a 'visible minority' (defined by Statistics Canada).

The 2011 and 2016 iterations of the Ontario Marginalization Index: updates, consistency and a cross-sectional study of health outcome associations.

Citation: Matheson et al. "Development of the Canadian Marginalization Index: a new tool for the study of inequality." Canadian Journal of Public Health, 2012;103(Suppl. 2):S12-S16. English, Français

History of CAN-Marg data creation	CAN-Marg	Maps
The 2016 Marginalization Index was created by researchers at MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions at St. Michael's Hospital and the McMaster Institute for Health Equity.	2016
The 2006 Marginalization Index was created by researchers at MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions at St. Michael’s Hospital and McMaster University.	2006
The 2001 Marginalization Index was created by researchers at MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions at St. Michael’s Hospital and McMaster University.	2001
The Canadian Marginalization Index (1996, 1991) provided through a Statistics Canada Custom Data Product Request (May 29, 2018)	1996, 1991
* Asterisk indicates there are maps available for this content