2016 National Membership Information

2016 National Membership Information
Data for 2015

This page provides annual information on the provincial and territorial engineering regulators’ membership in order to deliver timely and accurate membership information about the engineering profession in Canada.

Growth in the engineering profession

Membership in the provincial and territorial regulators grew again in 2015. In total, as of December 31, 2015, there were 287,111 members (excluding students) ⁱ of the twelve engineering regulators. Of these, 12.8 per cent were female, which increased from 12.3 per cent in 2014 with the participation of 2,800 more women.  

In 2015, there were 200,618 practising professional engineers ⁱⁱ which is a 2.3 per cent increase from 2014 (196,152). Of these, 12.5 per cent were women (see Sheet 1, below). The number of practising engineers (inclusive) was 206,187 (25,349 women) in 2015.

Since 2014, the greatest growth in membership has occurred in Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador, with five per cent growth in both jurisdictions. Female members increased in all jurisdictions, with the largest gains coming in Ontario (15 per cent increase), Prince Edward Island (11 per cent increase) and Manitoba (10 per cent increase). 

Over the period from 2011 to 2015, membership (excluding students ⁱⁱⁱ nationally grew 15 per cent. The greatest gains were again in Newfoundland and Labrador (38 per cent increase) and Saskatchewan (35 per cent increase). The smallest growth occurred in Quebec and New Brunswick (0.5 per cent and 3.4 per cent, respectively).

Table 1 

Engineers per 1,000 people

In 2015, the number of engineers per one-thousand people increased or remained the same in every jurisdiction. In Canada, there were 5.7 engineers per 1,000 individuals. The Yukon has the most number of engineers per one-thousand people at 20.5, as seen in Table 2.

vi

30 by 30

In 2015, Engineers Canada launched 30 by 30 with the support of each provincial and territorial regulator. 30 by 30 is a commitment to increasing the number of female newly licensed engineers to 30 per cent by 2030. Nationally, 16.8 per cent of newly licensed engineers were women in 2015. Engineers PEI had the highest proportion of newly licensed engineers who were female at 25 per cent.  Information about the percent of newly licensed engineers in 2015 who were female is presented in Table 3.

Residency of engineers

Nationally, 82.2% of engineers reside in the jurisdiction where they work, while 13.7% have their principal residence in another province or territory. The remaining 4.1% of engineers registered in Canada live abroad. Female engineers are more likely to reside in the jurisdiction where they practice (Table 4).

Table 4

From engineering student to professional engineer

In 2011, there were 11,761 graduates from accredited post-secondary engineering programs. In 2015, there were 6,636 graduates from accredited programs who obtained their engineering licence. If we were to assume that it takes approximately four years for a graduate from an accredited engineering program to obtain their professional engineering license, we see that approximately 56% of the 2011 cohort proceeded along the path to licensure and became licensed in 2015. Although this is an estimation, it is a first attempt at measuring the successful continuation of engineering students along the path to licensure.