Demographics of Toronto From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The demographics of Toronto make Toronto one of the most

multicultural cities in the world. Data released by Statistics Canada as part of the 2006 census indicates that Toronto is more ethnically diverse than Miami, Los Angeles, and New York City. 49.9% of Toronto's population is foreign-born.[1]

A majority of Torontonians claim their origins from as either in whole or part from England, Scotland and Ireland. There is a significant population of Arabs, Barbadians, Bengalis, Chinese, Colombians, Ecuadorians, Filipinos, French, Germans, Greeks, Grenadians, Guyanese, Hungarians, Indians, Iranians, Italians, Jamaicans, Jews, Koreans, Mexicans, Pakistanis, Poles, Portuguese, Romanians, Russians, Salvadorans, Somalis, Sri Lankans, Tamils, Tibetans, Trinidadians, Ukrainians, Vietnamese, and Vincentians throughout the city. Neighbourhoods such as Chinatown, Corso Italia, Little India, Greektown, Koreatown, Little Jamaica, Little Portugal and Roncesvalles are examples of these large ethno-cultural populations.[2]

Christianity is the largest faith group in Toronto's census metropolitan area, with Roman Catholics comprising 33.4% of the population. The Anglican Church and United Church of Canada account for 6.9% each. Other religious groups include Islam (5.5%), Hinduism (4.1%), Judaism (3.5%), Buddhism (2.1%), and Sikhism (1.9%). 16.6% of the population claim they have no religious affiliation.[3]

While English is the predominant language spoken by Torontonians, Statistics Canada reports that other language groups are significant, including Chinese, Portuguese, Tamil, Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Spanish, Punjabi, Somali, and Italian. Canada's other official language, French, is spoken by 1.4% of the population.

Contents

1 Basic information 2 Multicultural diversity 3 Religion 4 Language 4.1 Mother tongue by population 5 Immigration patterns 6 References

Basic information

Municipal 1831 1841 1851 1861 1871 1881 1891 1901 1911 1921 1931 1941 1951 1961 1971 1981 1991 3,969 14,249 30,775 44,821 59,000 96,196

population

181,215 156,098 376,538 521,893 631,207 657,612 675,754 672,407 712,786 599,217 635,395

2001* 2,481,494 2006* 2,503,281 *After amalgamation City of Toronto (2006 census) 2,503,281 Toronto Census Metropolitan Area (2006 census) 5,113,149 Annual Growth Rate 0.2%

Population growth studies have projected the City of Toronto's population in 2031 to be 3,000,000 and the Greater Toronto Area's population to be 7,450,000 (source), but some sources state that it could reach 7.7 million by 2025.[4]

Toronto's population grew by 1.0% from 2001 to 2006, with an annual growth rate of 0.2%. As of 2001, 17.5% of the population was 14 years and under, and 13.6% was 65 years and over; the median age was 36.9 years.

Multicultural diversity

In 2001, 43.7% of Torontonians were foreign-born.[5]

Pie chart showing Toronto's visible minority make up (according to Canada 2006 Census). Toronto is one of the world's most multicultural cities. In 2004, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) ranked Toronto second, behind Miami, Florida, in its list of the world's cities with the largest percentage of foreign-born population. Miami's foreign-born population is dominated by those of Cuban and Latin American descent, unlike Toronto's foreign-born population, which is not dominated by any particular ethnic group.

The 2006 census indicates 46.9% of Toronto's population is composed of visible minorities; 1,162,630 nonWhites, or 23% of Canada's visible minority population, live in Toronto; of this, approximately 70% are of Asian ancestry. Annually, almost half of all immigrants to Canada settle in the Greater Toronto Area. In March 2005, Statistics Canada projected that the visible minority proportion will comprise a majority in both Toronto and Vancouver by 2012.

Visible Minorities in the City of Toronto (2006) Source: Stats Canada 2006 Toronto Community Profile: Visible Minorities Visible minority group South Asian Chinese283,075 Black 208,555 11.4 8.4 4.1 298,370 12.0 Population %

Filipino 102,555

Latin American 64,855 2.6 West Asian 42,755 1.7 37,495 1.5

Southeast Asian Korean 34,220 1.4 Arab 22,485 0.9

Japanese

11,965 0.5

Multiple minorities Other minorities

31,100 1.3 25,195 1.0 46.9 1,313,930 53.1

Total visible minorities 1,162,630

Not a visible minority (including Aboriginal peoples) Total population 2,476,565 100

Visible Minorities in the Toronto CMA (2006) Source: Stats Canada 2006 Toronto CMA Community Profile: Visible Minorities Population Visible minority group South Asian Chinese486,330 Black 352,220 9.6 6.9 3.4 684,070 13.5 %

Filipino 171,980

Latin American 99,295 2.0 West Asian 75,475 1.5 70,215 1.4

Southeast Asian Korean 55,265 1.1 Arab 53,430 1.1

Japanese

19,010 0.4 60,075 1.2 46,705 0.9 42.9 2,898,005 57.1

Multiple minorities Other minorities

Total visible minorities 2,174,070

Not a visible minority (including Aboriginal peoples) Total population Religion 5,072,075 100

Roman Catholics accounted for 33.4% of the population of the City of Toronto in 2001, followed by Protestants with 21.2%. The city also has Islam (5.5%), Christian Orthodox (4.9%), Hindu (4.1%), Jewish (3.5%), Buddhist (2.1%), Sikh (1.9%), and other communities; 16.6% reported no religious affiliation.[6]

Language

While English is the predominant language spoken by Torontonians, Statistics Canada reports that other language groups are significant including Chinese, Portuguese, and Italian. Only 1.4% of city residents claim French (Canada's other official language) as their mother tongue, and a scant few are bilingual in English and French.

Mother tongue by population

(Toronto CMA 2006)[7]

English: 2,849,285 Italian: 194,620 Chinese (not otherwise specified): 175,900 Cantonese: 170,490 Punjabi: 137,730 Tagalog: 113,875 Portuguese: 113,015 Spanish: 112,875 Urdu: 105,555 Tamil: 98,265 Polish: 81,975 French: 72,590 Russian: 66,070 Persian: 65,755 Mandarin: 63,820 Arabic: 60,800 Gujarati: 57,100 Greek: 48,810 Korean: 48,795 Vietnamese: 46,955 German: 42,075 Immigration patterns

According to the Canadian government, Canada has the highest per capita immigration rate in the world,[8] and 43% of new immigrants settle in the Greater Toronto Area.

References

^ A city of unmatched diversity, The Toronto Star, December 5, 2007 ^ "Population by selected ethnic origins (Toronto)". Statistics Canada. 2001. Retrieved May 20 2006. ^ "Religions in Canada (Toronto)". Statistics Canada. 2001. Retrieved May 19 2006. ^ "Toward 2025: Assessing Ontario's Long-Term Outlook". Ministry of Finance (Ontario). 2005. Retrieved 2007-05-23. ^ http://www40.statcan.ca/l01/cst01/demo47a.htm ^ "2001 Community Profiles, Toronto, Ontario (City)". Statistics Canada. 2001. Retrieved 19 May 2008. ^ Detailed Mother Tongue, Toronto CMA 2006, Retrieved on August 8, 2009. ^ Canada's Immigration Program (BP-190E) Human Development Report 2004 - Ch. 5, page 99 [1] [2] [3] Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Toronto" Categories: Toronto | Demographics of Canada | Demographics by city This page was last modified on 28 June 2011 at 21:11. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of use for details. Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.