British Columbia now has many more seniors than children, according to Statistics Canada data released Wednesday morning.

The federal agencyB次元官网网址檚 numbers show that 18.3 per cent of B.C. residents are 65 and over, compared to 14.9 per cent who are 14 and younger. This demographic shift pushes the provinceB次元官网网址檚 average age to 42.3 years B次元官网网址� younger than only the Maritimes. Canada-wide, 16.9 per cent of all residents are 65 and older.

The 2011 was the first year in which seniors outnumbered children in B.C. but at the time, the gap was just over 11,000. In 2016, seniors outnumbered children by just over 150,000. According to Statistics Canada, the sharp increase in seniors correlates with baby boomers hitting retirement age while the slow growth in children is due to decreasing fertility rates.

Rennie Group senior economist Ryan Berlin believes that the fear over too many baby boomers is overinflated. He points out that even in 2016, the number of generation Xers, the generation after the boomers, outnumbers the them.

B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檙e not adding boomers, weB次元官网网址檙e losing them,B次元官网网址� he added.

The concern over how long the boomers are living is also mostly misplaced, Berlin said.

B次元官网网址淏ecause we are living longer, we will always have more people in our older age groups than we had in the past,B次元官网网址� he said.

Longer lifespans have played a role in increasing the both percentage of seniors in B.C. and raising the ratio of women to men. In 2016, women made up 60 per cent of the provinceB次元官网网址檚 population B次元官网网址� just slightly above the Canadian average of 50.9 per cent.

In the 65 and older age grouping in B.C., there were 453,425 women and just 395,555 men B次元官网网址� a difference of almost 60,000. The only age category in which there are more men than women is children 14 and younger and there the difference is just just under 30,000.

In the Lower Mainland, where rising house prices have spurred on worries about millennials B次元官网网址� particularly in Vancouver itself B次元官网网址� leaving, Rennie Group vice-president of marketing Andrew Ramlo says that census numbers disprove those concerns.

B次元官网网址淭hereB次元官网网址檚 this notion that thereB次元官网网址檚 this huge exodus of the younger population out of the City of Vancouver,B次元官网网址� said Ramlo, B次元官网网址渂ut [the young population] grew relatively significantly [and] only slightly slower than the regional average.B次元官网网址�

The growth in the 15-64 population further supports that theory, said Berlin.

B次元官网网址淲ithin Lower Mainland, the City of Vancouver has the second highest proportion of the 15-64 cohort,B次元官网网址� said Berlin.

That trend still holds true when you isolate the millennial generation of 20-39-year-olds. Across B.C., that group grew by 6.4 per cent but the Vancouver census metropolitan area (roughly analogous to Metro Vancouver) grew by 7.3 per cent, said Berlin.

B次元官网网址淰ancouver grew faster than some of the regions that are purportedly stealing this cohort,B次元官网网址� said Berlin. B次元官网网址淪o faster than Victoria and Abbotsford-Mission.B次元官网网址�

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B.C. by the numbers: age and sex

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Not all of B.C. was equal in either age or sex distribution. The regional districts with the highest proportion of seniors were Okanagan-Similkameen, the Sunshine Coast, Powell River and Nanaimo. However, Statistics Canada said that as a region, Vancouver Island B次元官网网址� particularly Nanaimo, Comox Valley, Cowichan Valley and Alberni-Clayoquot B次元官网网址� had high proportions of both seniors and women.

WATCH: B.C. through the years