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.

Table 2

  Engineers Persons (thousands) P.Eng.’s/1000 People
BC 18,914 4,703.9 4.0
AB 46,776 4,216.8 11.1
SK 8,143 1,138.8 7.2
MB 5,261 1,298.5 4.1
ON 68,014 13,850.0 4.9
QC 43,976 8,284.6 5.3
NB 4,191 754.0 5.6
NS 4,387 945.0 4.6
PEI 525 146.6 3.6
NL 3,800 528.1 7.2
NWT & NU 1,439 80.1 18.0
YK 761 37.2 20.5
Total 206,187 35,985.7 5.7

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.

Table 3

  Male Newly Licensed P.Eng. Female Newly Licensed P.Eng. Total Newly Licensed P.Eng. Percent Female
APEGBC 678 147 825 17.8%
APEGA 2.293 514 2,753 18.7%
APEGS 265 47 312 15.1%
Engineers and Geoscientists Manitoba 178 33 211 15.6%
PEO 2,655 442 3,097 14.3%
OIQ 1,797 400 2,197 18.2%
Engineers and Geoscientists
New Brunswick
111 19 130 14.6%
Engineers Nova Scotia 146 39 185 21.1%
Engineers PEI 15 5 20 25.0%
PEGNL 66 6 72 8.3%
NAPEG NR NR NR NR
Engineers Yukon 3 0 3 0%
Total 8,153 1,652 9,805 16.8% 

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.


  1. The category, Members (excluding students), includes Practising P.Eng.’s (exclusive), Temporary License Holders, License to Practise Holders, Restricted License Holders, Non-Practising P.Eng.’s, Life Members and Engineers-in-Training. For further clarification, please review
  2. The category, Practising Professional Engineers, includes all categories of practising (i.e. not retired) members reported by the engineering regulators. These are: practising engineers—exclusive; temporary licence holders; restricted licence holders; and licence to practise holders. For further clarification, please review __TABLE 1___
  3. The category, Members (excluding students), includes Practising P.Eng.’s (exclusive), Temporary License Holders, License to Practise Holders, Restricted License Holders, Non-Practising P.Eng.’s, Life Members and Engineers-in-Training. For further clarification, please review
  4. Practising engineers (inclusive) includes all categories of practising (i.e. not retired) members reported by the engineering regulators. These are: engineers—exclusive; temporary licence holders; restricted licence holders; and licence to practise holders.
  5. Practising engineers (P.Eng.) only.
  6. Statistics Canada. Table  051-0005 -  Estimates of population, Canada, provinces and territories, quarterly (persons),  CANSIM (database). (accessed: 1 August 2016)
  7. NR indicates information not reported by the regulator.

 

For more information contact us at research@engineerscanada.ca