Statistics Canada today released the first set of information for the 2011 Federal Census, focused on population and dwelling counts. The population of Canada has increased 5.9% since the 2006 census, compared with 5.4% for the previous five-year period.
Canada’s population increased at a faster rate than the population of any other member of the G8 group of industrialized nations between 2006 and 2011. This was also the case between 2001 and 2006.
Canada’s population now sits at 33,476,688. Looking at the provinces, Alberta leads the country in growth with an increase of 10.8%, taking our population up to 3,645,257, which is about 11% of the country.
Increasingly we are an urban country. A total of 69.1% of the population lives in one of Canada’s 33 census metropolitan areas (CMAs), and that number is going up:
The rate of growth between 2006 and 2011 was 7.4% in CMAs as a group, above the national average of 5.9%. The two fastest growing CMAs were both in Alberta: Calgary, where the population rose 12.6%, and Edmonton, where it increased 12.1%.
Here’s a look at the fastest growing CMAs in the country:
Looking at federal electoral districts in the Edmonton region, Edmonton-Leduc was the fastest growing with 28% growth since 2006 census, followed by Edmonton-Mill Woods-Beaumont at 22%.
Looking at Edmonton more generally, the population of the city now sits at 812,201 while the population of the CMA is now 1,159,869. Here’s the population for the City and the CMA over the last fifteen years:
And here’s the percentage increase over that same time period:
Edmonton is now the sixth largest CMA in the country, and we’re growing more quickly than anticipated.
We’ll have to wait until May 29 to learn more about the age and gender breakdown, September 19 to learn more about households, marital status, and structure types, and October 24 to learn more about language.
The City of Edmonton is conducting another municipal census in April this year, and is looking for 1400 people to act as census workers. You can apply in person at City Hall. You can learn more about the municipal census here.
You can learn more about the 2011 Federal Census here, and also check out The Daily for today.
MasterMaq's Blog 
Note to self: go on to Wikipedia later today and try to update the Edmonton population counts to reflect the latest census. Thanks for posting the summary Mack.
Looks like it has already been updated! Unless that was you 🙂
Another interesting observation, which follows from the fact that Edmonton’s growth was 11.2% compared to 12.1% for the region, is which satellite communities grew: Beaumont (48%), Leduc (43%), Spruce Grove (34%) and Ft Saskatchewan (27%). Strathcona County grew with the regional average, while St Albert’s growth was only 6.4%.
If you check the map Global News (national) put together you can see most of the growth happening on Edmonton’s fringes and in the suburbs. A little action downtown though!
Also, checking other cities, some similar patterns, but Toronto’s got core growth and Saskatoon is drawing in the rurals.http://www.globalnews.ca/pages/topicNew.aspx?id=6442571726
Nice, thanks for the link!