Vancouver is a city located in British Columbia, Canada with a current estimated population of 687,933. The population was recorded at 662,248 in the 2021 Canadian Census, and was previously recorded at 631,486 in the 2016 census. This is a change in population of 30,762, which is an annual growth rate of 0.96%.
Vancouver is a coastal city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. The estimated population of Vancouver in 2016 is 610,000, which makes it the 8th largest city in Canada.
Canada’s most recent Census was taken in 2011, which recorded 603,502 residents of Vancouver. From 2006 to 2011, the City experienced 4.4% growth, which was a bit under Canada’s overall growth at 5.9%. The Greater Vancouver area has a population of more than 2.4 million, which makes it the third most populous metro area in Canada and the most populous in Western Canada.
Vancouver is also the most densely populated city in Canada with more than 5,249 people per square kilometer (13,590/sq mi), and the 4th most densely populated city in North America.
74% of people in the Metropolitan Vancouver area live outside the city proper.
Data after 2023 is projected based on recent change
39.6
42.2
The 2011 Census found the racial and ethnic makeup of Vancouver was:
Vancouver is often called a “city of neighborhoods” because it has several neighborhoods with distinct ethnic mixes. Those of English, Irish and Scottish origins were historically the largest ethnic group in Vancouver, and this is still visible in areas like Kerrisdale and South Granville. Germans are the second-largest European group, followed by the Chinese, who are the largest visible ethnic group. Ethnic neighborhoods in Vancouver include Chinatown, Little Italy, Greektown and Punjabi Market.
Average Income
Median Household Income
Vancouver is expected to continue it’s growth according to projections from Vancouver Metro. The Metro estimates that the city of Vancouver will grow to 765,000 by 2041. They also project that the Vancouver metro area will near 3.5 million by 2041.
Immigration into Vancouver has increased since the 1980s and transformed the city into one of great ethnic diversity. More than half of the population speaks a language other than English as their first language. Vancouver now has one of the highest concentrations of ethnic Chinese people in North America, as many came from Hong Kong in anticipation of sovereignty transfer to China. Other major Asian groups in Vancouver are South Asian (primarily Punjabi), with large groups of Indo-Canadian (5.7%), Filipino (5.0%), Japanese (1.7%), Korean (1.5%), Vietnamese, Indonesian, and Cambodian.
Immigration from Latin America, once stronger in the 1980s and 1990s, has slowed in recent years, while immigration from Africa has also become stagnant. The black population of Vancouver is just 1%, much smaller than other large cities in Canada.
Prior to the immigration wave from Hong Kong in the 90s, the largest non-British groups in Vancouver were Irish and German, followed by Italian, Scandinavian, Chinese and Ukranian. After the Soviet Union began taking over Eastern Europe, many Eastern Europeans immigrated to the city, including Russians, Czechs, Poles, Romanians, and Yugoslavs, followed by a wave of Greek immigration in the 1960s through the 70s.
There is also also a sizable population of aboriginal people in Vancouver numbering about 11,000, as well as a large gay community in the West End neighborhood.
