Demographics of Quebec

The demographics of Quebec constitutes a complex and sensitive issue, especially as it relates to the National Question of Canada.

Quebec is the only province in Canada to feature a francophone (French-speaking) majority, and where anglophones (English-speakers) constitute an officially recognized minority group.

However, while francophones currently constitute approximately 81% of the overall population, they have since 2004 reversed a low birthrate, especially in the city of Québec and various regions of Quebec. The birthrate in Montreal is still low. If such trends continue, researchers predict that the low birthrate amongst francophones and the lack of adoption of the French language and assimilation into the francophone culture by allophone (those whose primary language is neither English nor French) immigrants will cause the French-speaking population on the island of Montreal to dive below the 50 percent mark in the coming decades, but not the Montreal metropolitan census area as a whole.

A previous decline in the francophone birth rate, and perceived weakening position of the French language in Montreal, led to the passing of the Charter of the French Language (Bill 101) by the provincial government in order to protect the status of the French language as well as to increase the francophone population in the future. While the use of French throughout Quebec has been strengthened, the proportion of Montreal residents who are native French speakers has continued to decline due to an influx of immigrants. However, due to the Charter of the French Language, children of allophone immigrants are enrolled in the francophone public school system. Thus, they usually become fluent in French as well as in English.

Quebec is also home to "one of the world's most valuable founder populations", the Quebec Founder Population. Founder populations are very valuable to medical genetic research as they are pockets of low genetic variability which provide a useful research context for discovering gene-disease linkages. The Quebec Founder Population arose through the influx of people into Quebec from France in the 17th century to mid-18th century; though this influx was large, a high proportion of the immigrants either died or returned to France, leaving a founder population of approximately 2,600 people. About seven million Canadians (along with several million French Americans in the United States) are descendants of these original 2,600 colonists.