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 are able to conduct a conversation in French, with less than 5% of the population not able to speak French.

In 2013, Statistics Canada had estimated the province's population to be 8,155,334.^[2] 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, back then, 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).^[3]

Quebec is home to "one of the world's most valuable founder populations", the Quebec Founder Population.^[4] 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; though this influx was large, a high proportion of the settlers either died or returned to France, leaving a founder population of approximately 2,600 people.^[4][5] About seven million Canadians (along with several million French Americans in the United States) are descendants of these original 2,600 colonists.^[4]