Demographics
| Québec City (2006 Boundaries) |
||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
| 1871 | 76,593 | — |
| 1881 | 80,249 | +4.8% |
| 1891 | 80,546 | +0.4% |
| 1901 | 88,615 | +10.0% |
| 1911 | 102,214 | +15.3% |
| 1921 | 122,698 | +20.0% |
| 1931 | 168,249 | +37.1% |
| 1941 | 199,588 | +18.6% |
| 1951 | 245,742 | +23.1% |
| 1956 | 279,521 | +13.7% |
| 1961 | 321,917 | +15.2% |
| 1966 | 372,373 | +15.7% |
| 1971 | 408,440 | +9.7% |
| 1976 | 429,757 | +5.2% |
| 1981 | 434,980 | +1.2% |
| 1986 | 440,598 | +1.3% |
| 1991 | 461,894 | +4.8% |
| 1996 | 473,569 | +2.5% |
| 2001 | 476,330 | +0.6% |
| 2006 | 491,142 | +3.1% |
| 2011 | 516,622 | +5.2% |
According to the 2011 census, there were 516,622 people residing in Quebec City proper, and 765,706 people in the city's census metropolitan area. Of the former total, 48.2% were male and 51.8% were female. Children under five accounted for approximately 4.7% of the resident population of Quebec City. This compares with 5.2% in the province of Quebec, and 5.6% for Canada overall.
While Montreal is considered by many to have a bilingual population, in which many of its residents have a working knowledge of both French and English, Quebec City and its surrounding region are largely Francophone. The vast majority of city residents are native French-speakers. The English-speaking community peaked in relative terms during the 1860s, when 40% of Quebec City's residents were Anglophone. Today, Anglophones make up only 1.5% of the population of both the city and its metropolitan area. However, the annual Quebec Winter Carnival attracts both Francophone and Anglophone tourists alike, so the Anglophone population increases considerably during the duration of the event.
According to the Statistics Canada website, 94.55% of Quebec City's population speaks French as their mother tongue. While nearly everyone speaks French as their first language, more than a third can speak both French and English.
| Mother tongue | Population | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| French | 456,225 | 94.55% |
| English | 7,030 | 1.46% |
| English and French | 1,460 | 0.31% |
| Other languages | 17,825 | 3.69% |
| Unilingual French speakers | 315,135 | 65.31% |
| Unilingual English speakers | 835 | 0.17% |
| Bilingual French and English speakers | 165,340 | 34.26% |
In 2001, 13.0% of the resident population in Quebec City was of retirement age (65 and over for males and females) compared with 13.2% in Canada. The average age is 39.5 years of age compared to 37.6 years of age for Canada as a whole.
In the five years between 2006 and 2011, the population of Quebec City grew by 6.5%, compared with an increase of 4.9% for the province of Quebec as a whole. The population density of Quebec City averaged 228.6 people per square kilometre, compared with an average of 5.3 for the province as a whole.
At the time of the 2001 census, the population of the Quebec City authority was 682,757, but was 710,700 when encompassing the Greater Quebec City Area, compared with a resident population in the province of Quebec of 7,237,479 people. In 2006, visible minorities make up 3% of the population.
According to the 2001 census, over 90% of the population was Roman Catholic. The city also contains small Protestant, Muslim and Jewish communities.
Read more about this topic: Quebec City