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Study: Canada's rural demography

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The Daily


Tuesday, November 4, 2008
1851 to 2006 

Canada's rural population, namely people who live outside the commuting zone of larger urban centres, has remained fairly stable at about 6 million since 1981.

However, stronger growth among the population of larger urban centres has meant that these 6 million people represent a smaller share of Canada's total population. In 2006, their share had declined to about 19% of Canada's population, compared with 20% in 2001.

Between 2001 and 2006, the population in rural and small town areas grew by 1%. This was much slower than the growth of 6.4% in larger urban centres.

Within these rural and small town areas, population growth was highest during this five-year period in areas strongly linked to urban centres (+4.7%). In areas weakly linked to urban centres, the population declined 1.4%.

Each province showed a similar pattern. In zones that were less linked to urban centres, the population declined more, or growth was slower.

However, in both Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador, the overall rural and small town population has been declining since 1986.

Although the 1.4 million rural and small town inhabitants in Ontario represented a relatively small share of Ontario's total population, they constituted 24% of Canada's total rural and small town population in 2006. Quebec's share of the total rural and small town population was slightly higher at 25%.

Note: This study uses three different definitions of rural Canada to profile the structure of Canada's rural population, and updates the population data to 2006. The term "rural and small town" refers to those areas outside of urban centres of 10,000 or more population and where less than 50% of the labour force commutes to an urban centre for work.

The study "Structure and change in Canada's rural demography: An update to 2006" is now available as part of the The Rural and Small Town Canada Analysis Bulletin, 1851 to 2006, Vol. 7, no. 7 (21-006-XWE, free), from the Publications module of our website.

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Ray D. Bollman (613-951-3747; ray.bollman@statcan.gc.ca), Agriculture Division.