OTTAWA -- New census data shows the population of the metropolitan area of Winnipeg outpaced the national growth rate over the last five years.
Statistics Canada released the first batch of numbers from the 2016 census on Wednesday and the population of what the government agency refers to as the census metropolitan area of Winnipeg increased by 6.6 per cent since the last census in 2011.
The area's growth rate was above the national growth rate of 5.0 per cent, while the population of Manitoba increased by 5.8 per cent.
Census metropolitan areas do not conform to established municipal boundaries. Statistics Canada defines them as a metropolitan area with a population of at least 100,000, where the urban core of that area has at least 50,000 people. Commuting patterns and other factors are used in determining these census metropolitan areas. Looking at metropolitan areas this way takes in to account the growing impact of suburban areas on Canada's largest cities.
When the 2016 census was taken last May 10, the population of the census metropolitan area of Winnipeg was 778,489, compared with 730,018 from the 2011 census. The population of the actual city of Winnipeg was 705,244, up from from 663,617 in 2011.
The census indicated that Winnipeg ranked No. 8 among the country's 35 census metropolitan areas.
Canada's population on census day was 35,151,728, Statistics Canada reported.
The national census is conducted every five years. The information published Wednesday is the first of several releases of data to come from Statistics Canada over the next year that will eventually paint a detailed picture of the country, right down to the local level - including age breakdowns of the population, family makeup, languages spoken, immigration and ethnic origin, the level of education attained and income earned.
Future census releases will give more insight to explain the reasons behind the population changes - whether it's related mostly to changes in birth and death rates, immigration or interprovincial migration.
At the provincial level, population levels in Alberta saw the highest increase at 11.6 per cent, followed by Saskatchewan (6.3 per cent) and Manitoba (5.8 per cent).
Growth in New Brunswick shrank by 0.5 per cent - the first time since 2006 a province has reported a negative growth rate.
British Columbia's population levels increased by 5.6 per cent, compared with Ontario (4.6 per cent), Quebec (3.3 per cent), Prince Edward Island (1.9 per cent), Newfoundland and Labrador (1.0 per cent) and Nova Scotia (0.2 per cent). Among the northern territories, the population grew by 12.7 per cent in the Northwest Territories, 5.8 per cent in the Nunavut and 0.8 per cent in Yukon.
Ontario is still the country's most populous province, with a population of 13,448,494. The population of other provinces and territories: Quebec, 8,164,361; British Columbia, 4,648,055; Alberta, 4,067,175; Manitoba, 1,278,365; Saskatchewan, 1,098,352; New Brunswick, 923,598; New Brunswick, 747,101; Newfoundland and Labrador, 519,716; Prince Edward Island, 142,907; Northwest Territories, 41,786; Nunavut, 35,944 and Yukon, 35,874.
Here is a local breakdown of census population information for communities in the Winnipeg region:
Community 2016 2011 % change
Metropolitan Winnipeg 778,489 730,018 6.6
City of Winnipeg 705,244 663,617 6.3
Ritchot 6,679 5,478 21.9
Portage la Prairie 13,304 12,996 2.4
Brandon 48,859 46,061 6.1
Steinbach 15,829 13,524 17.0
Selkirk 10,278 9,834 4.5
Dauphin 8,457 8,251 2.5
Flin Flon (Part) 4,982 5,405 -7.8
Thompson 13,678 13,123 4.2
Beausejour 3,219 3,126 3.0
Stonewall 4,809 4,536 6.0
Winkler 12,591 10,670 18.0
Morden 8,668 7,812 11.0
Gimli 6,181 5,845 5.7
Neepawa 4,609 3,629 27.0
Minnedosa 2,449 2,587 -5.3
The Pas 5,369 5,513 -2.6
Churchill 899 813 10.6
Kenora 15,096 15,348 -1.6
Kenora 38B 421 394 6.9 08:31ET 08-02-17
Manitoba growth above national average for first time in 80 years
For the first time in almost three generations, Manitobans can say their province has grown faster than the national average.
Census data released Wednesday shows that Manitoba's population grew by 5.8 per cent between 2011 and 2016, bettering the growth rate recorded in the 2011 census and pushing the province's population to almost 1.28 million.
The finding comes as a surprise to Laurent Martel, Statistics Canada's director of demography.
Martel says the province has substantially increased its immigration levels over the last five years, in much the same way as neighbour Saskatchewan did leading up to the 2011 population count.
Prince Edward Island did the same, helping to push its population growth rate to 3.2 per cent in 2011.
However, keeping those levels sustained by encouraging recent immigrants to remain on the island has proven a challenge; the rate dropped to 1.9 per cent for the 2011-2016 census period.
