Demographics of Quebec

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The demographics of Quebec constitutes a complex and sensitive issue, especially as it relates to the national question. Quebec is the only one of Canada's provinces to feature a Francophone (French-speaking) majority, and where anglophones (English-speakers) constitute an officially recognized minority group. According to the 2011 census, French is spoken by more than 85.5% of the population while this number rises to 88% for children under 15 years old.^[1] According to the 2011 census, 95% of Quebec's people are able to conduct a conversation in French, with less than 5% of the population not able to speak French. According to Statistics Canada's population clock, Quebec's population would be around 9,100,000 in early 2024.^[2]

In 2013, Statistics Canada had estimated the province's population to be 8,155,334.^[3] In the 2016 census, Quebec's population had slightly grown from that estimate to 8,164,361 living in 3,531,663 of its 3,858,943 total dwellings, a 3.3% change from its 2011 population of 7,903,001. With a land area of 1,356,625.27 km² (523,795.95 sq mi), it had a population density of 6.0/km² (15.6/sq mi) in 2016. In 2021, Quebec's population had become 8,501,833. Quebec accounts for a little under 23% of the Canadian population. Quebec's demographic weight in Canada has been gradually decreasing since 1971 when it was 28% of the population. In 2018, Quebec's three most populated regions are Montreal (2,029,379), Montérégie (1,554,282) and Capitale-Nationale (745,135). Quebec's three least populated regions are Nord-du-Québec (45,558), Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine (90,709) and Côte-Nord (91,213).^[4]

Quebec is home to "one of the world's most valuable founder populations".^[5] Founder populations are very valuable to medical genetic research as they are pockets of low genetic variability which provide a useful research context for discovering gene-disease linkages. The Quebec founder population arose through the influx of people into Quebec from France in the 17th century to mid-18th century; a high proportion of the settlers either returned to France or died. Of the approximately 33,500 colonists who arrived to Canada, fewer than 10,000 remained. There were approximately 8,500 colonists who settled from France and had at least one child in the colony.^[6][7][8] About seven million Canadians (along with several million French Americans in the United States) are descendants of these original 8,500 colonists.^[6]