A Guide to researching
consumption statistics
This guide presents the resources available in the Grande Bibliothèque and on the Web portal of
Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ), as well as on Internet sites, where you can
find consumption statistics so that you can, for example, assess a target market or follow the
development of an industry.
Reference works
Our print reference works can be found on level 2 of the Grande Bibliothèque and are for consultation
in the library only. The titles listed below could be useful to you in finding consumption statistics.

FP Markets, Canadian Demographics (Financial Post), 330.971 F796
Statistics on purchasing power, household spending, retail sales, income, etc. Data are
available by province, administrative region, city and municipality.
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Recueil statistique des études de marché (Statistics Canada), 380.10971 R3119
Socio-demographic statistics, consumption expenditures, international trade, housing and
households, companies and industries, etc.
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International Marketing Data and Statistics (Euromonitor International), 382.09 I61626
Statistical snapshot of more than 160 countries, covering 24 economic sectors, including retail
trade, banking and finance, agriculture, energy resources, consumer spending, income, etc.
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European Marketing Data and Statistics (Euromonitor International), 338.094 E8972
Statistical snapshot of European countries, covering 24 economic sectors, for example, retail
trade, banking and finance, agriculture, energy resources, consumer spending, income, etc.
Online resources: databases
Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec provides its subscribers free access to more than 200
databases through its portal, about thirty of which specialize in economics and business. Some of
these contain statistics as well as information related to consumption statistics.
To access them, first click on the “Online Resources” tab on the portal, then on “All Databases”. The
databases with consumption statistics can be found under the topic, “Economy and Business”. Some
of these are available remotely, and they are designated by the
icon.
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 E-Stat (Statistics Canada)
The statistical data in the E-Stat database provide free access to about 80% of the data contained
in CANSIM, the main socio-economic database maintained by Statistics Canada.
After accessing E-Stat on BAnQ’s portal, click on the “Accept and enter” button at the bottom of
the home page. Then select “Search in CANSIM on E-Stat.”
You can now carry out a search by subject or key word, through textual searching, and retrieve
tables with relevant data. The Guide de l’utilisateur, which is available online in PDF format, could
be useful to you for finding the optimal tools for displaying your results. Note: the data are updated
annually.
 Stat-USA / Internet
Statistics on the economy, business and international trade, produced by the government of the
United States. Resource is in English.
You will find some consumption statistics in the market studies in the Globus & NTDB section.
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Search by key word: click on “Site Search” on the menu bar at the top of the page. Then type
the term or terms that best describe your information needs in the left-hand column, choose
the Market Research Reports database in the right-hand column, then begin the search by
clicking on “Execute Search”.

Market Research Reports (section: Market and Country Research): select a country to obtain a
list of market studies about it.
 Passport (Euromonitor)
The Passport database provides consumption statistics as well as data on consumption habits in a
number of countries. Here, you can also access analysts’ reports and commentaries. This
resource is in English.
You can obtain data in three ways:

search by menu (Menu Search) or by text (Text Search);
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select the information you want from the following menus: Industries, Countries & Consumers,
and Geographies;
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select the information you want from the menu on the left of the home page.
 MarketResearch.com academic
This database provides market studies in a number of fields. It should be noted that these studies
are available one year after they are published. This resource is in English.
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You can use two search options, both of which are located in the menu on the left:

Quick Search / Advanced Search: search by key word.

Browse by Industry: search by industry sector. Click on the link you want from the list to obtain
market studies on subjects that interest you.
Internet sites
Specialized government statistical sites are a good starting point for finding consumption statistics.
 Institut de la statistique du Québec:
www.stat.gouv.qc.ca
Consumption Statistics:
In the left-hand menu, under “Statistiques”:
 choose “Par domaine,” “Conditions de vie et bien-être,” then “Revenus et dépenses;”
 click on the various links in the section, “Dépenses moyennes des ménages” to access
consumption statistics.
Publications:
This section provides access to a number of studies, reports and industry profiles that can be
downloaded free of charge.
 Statistics Canada:
www.statcan.gc.ca
Consumption Statistics:
In the Browse By menu:
 click on the “Key Resource” tab;
 under “Data Tables”, choose “Summary Tables”;
 on the left-hand menu, click on “Summary Tables”.
At this point, you have four ways of finding consumption statistics. Use the options on the left-hand
menu:

Subject: click on the Subject link, then choose “Income, pensions, spending and wealth,”
followed by “Household spending and savings.”

Province or territory: click on the Province or Territory link, choose the province you want,
then retrieve the relevant tables (using the Search function in the Publications menu – or
CTRL + F – and then search on the term “expenditures,” for example).

Metropolitan area: choose the region you want, then follow the same procedure as above
to retrieve relevant tables.

Alphabetical list: choose the letter “E” (for Expenditures), then search the relevant tables to
retrieve those with the word “expenditures” in their title.
Publications:
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The Daily: the official Statistics Canada statistical bulletin provides a complete overview of
new data that have been published by the organization. It presents industry studies on a
regular basis, as well as consumption statistics. Searching is by key word.
Publications: in this section, you can search in all Statistics Canada publications, articles
and CD-ROMs. Searching is by key word or subject. You can also limit your search by
date.
 Internet sites of government, organizations and associations
Internet sites of government, organizations and associations are good resources for finding data
on a specific industry. These resources are often free of charge, but some of them are only
available to members of the organizations that produce them. You can find associations by
referring to directories such as Associations Québec (061.14025 A84996) and Encyclopedia of
Associations (061.3 E5638), which are available on level 3 of the Grande Bibliothèque. You can
also access the online directory of Associations Canada, through the Canada’s Infodesk
database, on BAnQ’s portal. We would also suggest that you search on the Internet directly,
because some associations do not appear in any directories.
Here are some examples:
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Industry Canada: statistics on a number of economic sectors
Tourisme Québec: Studies and Statistics section
Cefrio, NETendances: statistics on Internet use
Ministère de l’Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l’Alimentation du Québec, AgriRéseau, The
Canadian Dairy Information Centre, etc.
Association des restaurateurs du Québec
Corporation des concessionnaires automobiles du Québec
Observatoire de la culture et des communications du Québec: theatre, visual arts, film,
book industry, etc.
Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation
Association des hôteliers du Québec
Last updated: August 4, 2010
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