Words used on this site

Each word is explained in one or two sentences. A measure page lists the ones it uses under “Words on this page”.

Words

Median, middle, typical: The middle value when everything is lined up from smallest to largest: half are above it and half are below. A few very large values pull an average up; they do not move the median.
9 in 10 (90th percentile): The point that 9 cases out of 10 fall under. It shows the long end, not the usual case: 1 case in 10 is beyond it.
Index: A number that tracks change against a starting year set to 100. An index of 120 is 20% above that year. It has no unit of its own.
Percentage point: The difference between two percentages. Going from 4% to 5% is a rise of 1 percentage point.
Per 1,000 and per 100,000: A rate: a count divided by the population, so places of different sizes can be compared. A rate of 50 per 1,000 is the same as 5,000 per 100,000.
After inflation: Adjusted for rising prices, so that a dollar buys the same in every year being compared.
Fiscal year, school year: A 12-month year that does not start in January. The Province’s fiscal year runs from April 1 to March 31. A year written 2025/26 began in 2025 and ended in 2026.
Net new homes: Homes finished minus homes torn down.
Target: A level a government has formally committed to reach, in a law, an order, a plan or a bylaw, usually by a date.
Standard: A level a professional or technical body sets as good practice. It is not a government commitment.
No target found: This site read the plans and orders listed on the page and found no target for this measure. The page says who could set one.
Rising, Falling, Steady (no verdict): Used where people reasonably disagree on whether a rise is good or bad, such as taxes and prices. The site gives the direction and leaves the judgement to the reader.
About the same: The change is smaller than 5%, or smaller than the agency’s own margin of error.
Mixed: The latest 12 months and the year so far point in opposite directions, each by 5% or more.
Can’t compare: The way the number is counted, or the area it covers, changed between the two dates, or there is no earlier figure yet. No change is calculated across such a break.
Seasonally adjusted: Adjusted to remove the usual swings of the calendar, such as summer jobs, so that one month can be compared with the next.
Same-sample change: A change measured only in the buildings surveyed in both years, so that new buildings do not distort it.
Preliminary, year to date: Year to date: from January 1 to the latest month published. Preliminary: early figures the agency may still revise.
Calculated here: The agency does not publish this exact figure. This site works it out from the agency’s figures and shows the steps on the page.
CIHI: The Canadian Institute for Health Information: an independent body that governments set up and fund. Hospitals across Canada report to it.
CMHC: Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation: the federal housing agency. It surveys rents and counts new homes.
BC Stats: The statistics office of the Province of British Columbia.

Places

City of Victoria: The City of Victoria municipality only, all neighbourhoods.
Greater Victoria (CMA): Statistics Canada’s Victoria metropolitan area: 13 municipalities plus nearby electoral-area and reserve lands.
Capital Region: The Capital Regional District: 13 municipalities and 3 electoral areas, including the Southern Gulf Islands and Salt Spring Island.
Victoria hospitals: The emergency departments of Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria, Victoria General Hospital in View Royal and Saanich Peninsula Hospital in Central Saanich, each reported separately.
South Vancouver Island: The Province’s South Vancouver Island health service delivery area, one of three in Island Health.

Every measure page lists the places it covers under “Which places”. How the labels are decided.