Frightful figures: StatsCan’s Halloween by the numbers

About a 150,000 fewer kids are of trick-or-treating age in Canada than there were 20 years ago, according to Statistics Canada.

In 1996, the agency reported there were 4,025,253 Canadian kids between five and 14. That number dropped to 3,870,938 for 2016, the most recent year for which data was available.

This was one of the tidbits from the agency’s annual round up of Halloween-related numbers, released in the week leading up to the spookiest night of the year.

Here’s a few other Halloween-related facts and figures (all data from 2016 unless otherwise noted):

Pumpkins

There are 2,569 Canadian farms with pumpkin patches. All told, about 3,429 hectares of land are devoted to producing Canada’s pumpkin crop, which came in at 80, 172 tonnes for an overall estimated value of $25.9 million.

Costumes

As of June 2017, there were 158 businesses in Canada devoted to formal wear and costume rentals. In 2015, some $20.1 million worth of vestments and costumes were manufactured in Canada, this figure includes religious garments, theatrical costumes and all other costumes.

Candy

Canadians bought $392.5 million worth of candy, confectionary and snack foods from large retailers in October 2016. While that’s significantly above the 2016 monthly average of $326.1 million, December takes the candy sales crown, with $480.2 million worth of products sold.

Crime

Statistics Canada reports that the number of criminal incidents reported to police rises each year on Oct. 31 as compared to Oct. 24. Overall, reported incidents rise by a little over seven per cent, according to data from 2015.

Half of all crimes reported to police on Halloween 2015 were property crimes, just over 17 per cent were crimes against people. The rest were termed “other Criminal Code violations,” traffic violations or drug violations.