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Demographics of Toronto

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 Britain and Ireland. There is a significant population of Barbadian, Chinese, Colombians, Ecuadorians, Filipinos, French, Germans, Greeks, Guyanese, Hungarians, Indians, Iranians, Italians, Jamaicans, Jews, Koreans, Latin Americans, Pakistanis, Poles, Portuguese, Romanians, Russians, Salvadoran, Somalis, Sri Lankans, Trinidadians, Ukrainians, Tibetans, Vietnamese, and Vincentians throughout the city. Neighbourhoods such as Koreatown, Chinatown, Little Jamaica, Gerrard Street East, Bloor West Village, Greektown, Portugal Village, and Corso Italia 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 (6.7%), Hinduism (4.8%), Judaism (4.2%), 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, Persian, Urdu, Spanish, Punjabi, Somali, and Italian. Canada's other official language, French, is spoken by 1.4% of the population.

Basic information

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 non-Whites, or 23% of Canada's visible minority population, live in Toronto; of this, approximately 70% originate from Asia alone. 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.

Religion

Roman Catholics accounted for 31.4% of the population of the City of Toronto in 2001, followed by Protestants with 21.2%. The city also has Islam (6.7%), Christian Orthodox (4.9%), Hindu (4.8%), Jewish (4.2%), Buddhist (2.7%), Sikh (0.9%), and other communities; 18.9% 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
• Somali: 13,705

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

• Human Development Report 2004 - Ch. 5, page 99
• [1]
• [2]
• [3]

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