Rural areas in Canada, often called rural Canada, generally refers to areas in Canada outside of census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations, according to Statistics Canada. Rural areas cover approximately 9,197,138 sqkm of Canada's land area. Rural Canada is usually defined by low population density, small population size, and distance from major agglomerations. , nearly 6 million people (16% of the total Canadian population) lived in rural areas of Canada. In the 2006 census, the Canadian population living in a rural area was between 19% and 30% of the total population, depending on the definition of "rural" used.

Census

In Statistics Canada’s definition, "rural area" refers to areas in Canada outside of census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations. This definition has changed over time.