This article presents the current language demographics of the Canadian province of Quebec.
Demographic terms The complex nature of Quebec's linguistic situation, with individuals who are often bilingual or multilingual, requires the use of multiple terms in order to describe the languages which people speak. Francophone Speaking French as a first language. Anglophone Speaking English as a first language. Allophone Having a mother tongue other than English or French. Mother tongue The first language learned by a person, which may or may not still be used by that individual in adulthood, is a basic measure of a population's language. However, with the high number of mixed francophone-anglophone marriages and the reality of multilingualism in Montreal, this description does not give a true linguistic portrait of Quebec. It is, however, still essential, for example in order to calculate the assimilation rate. Statistics Canada defines mother tongue as the first language learned in childhood and still spoken; it does not presuppose literacy in that or any language. Home language This is the language most often spoken at home and is currently preferred to identify francophones, anglophones, and allophones. This descriptor has the advantage of pointing out the current usage of languages. However, it fails to describe the language that is most used at work, which may be different. Knowledge of official languages This measure describes which of the two official languages of Canada a person can speak informally. This relies on the person's own evaluation of his/her linguistic competence and can prove misleading. First official language learned Measures whether English or French are the first of the two official languages learned; it places allophones into English or French linguistic communities. Official language minority Based on first official language learned, but placing half of the people equally proficient since childhood in both English and French into each linguistic community; it is used by the Canadian government to determine the demand for minority language services in a region
Current demographics Knowledge of languages
The question on knowledge of languages allows for multiple responses, and first appeared on the 1991 Canadian census. Knowledge of Languages in Quebec (1991–2021)Language2021 Canadian census2016 Canadian census2011 Canadian census2006 Canadian census2001 Canadian census1996 Canadian census1991 Canadian census French 7,786,740 7,522,350 7,375,900 7,028,740 6,739,050 6,612,305 6,371,920 English 4,317,180 3,930,690 3,692,585 3,354,650 3,234,745 3,019,100 2,786,745 Spanish 453,905 390,355 348,920 291,010 231,315 190,990 145,665 Arabic 343,680 267,965 211,825 157,025 115,785 91,770 74,680 Italian 168,040 173,710 177,890 191,340 188,925 192,595 190,430 Creoles 135,275 115,445 99,045 78,230 62,910 59,340 42,780 Chinese 106,915 90,060 80,025 73,550 52,565 46,390 36,555 Portuguese 65,605 55,100 47,640 46,795 45,450 42,765 42,565 German 57,855 56,120 58,785 61,460 66,745 72,040 76,725 Hindustani 56,945 32,115 27,475 28,440 22,100 17,620 11,860 Russian 55,485 46,665 39,015 29,925 22,285 17,595 10,800 Greek 50,370 51,060 53,020 52,490 52,050 53,035 54,575 Persian 44,745 32,965 22,825 16,950 13,160 10,515 8,020 Romanian 44,515 42,655 33,690 30,375 15,155 12,935 8,615 Vietnamese 37,650 34,580 37,370 32,775 28,755 28,835 24,115 Algonquian 35,985 37,515 34,555 33,280 29,265 27,255 22,245 Punjabi 34,290 17,860 14,480 15,435 13,050 9,155 4,850 Tagalog 33,810 26,705 25,320 19,400 15,140 12,430 8,585 Armenian 22,095 20,290 18,645 18,540 16,960 17,215 16,840 Tamil 20,050 17,245 19,460 13,965 13,180 9,440 5,315 Hebrew 19,210 18,035 19,150 18,835 18,225 19,510 17,200 Polish 16,790 17,760 18,365 20,945 22,330 24,325 25,755 Inuit–Inuktut–Inuktitut 13,905 12,595 12,550 10,415 9,255 8,525 7,525 Serbo-Croatian 11,145 11,990 10,415 11,605 9,595 8,085 2,950 Gujarati 10,645 7,950 7,485 7,155 7,005 5,455 4,040 Ukrainian 10,185 9,015 6,780 7,900 8,180 9,360 9,180 Japanese 9,300 7,040 6,135 4,625 3,630 3,610 2,720 Korean 9,265 6,260 5,365 4,290 3,285 3,145 2,420 Hungarian 6,850 7,215 8,230 9,730 9,805 11,460 12,400 Dutch 5,175 5,060 5,475 5,555 5,590 5,750 5,960 Scandinavian 3,340 3,065 3,120 3,000 3,200 2,700 2,920 Total responses8,308,4807,965,4507,815,9557,435,9007,125,5807,045,0856,810,300Total population8,501,8338,164,3617,903,0017,546,1317,237,4797,138,7956,895,963
Overview as of the 2016 census
Population: 8,164,361 Official language: French Majority group: Francophone (77.1%) Minority groups: Allophone (13.15%), Anglophone (7.45%), Aboriginals (0.6%), native speakers of two languages or more (2.3%)
Among the ten provinces of Canada, Quebec is the only one whose majority is francophone. Quebec's population accounts for 23.9% of the Canadian population, and Quebec's francophones account for about 90% of Canada's French-speaking population.
English-speaking Quebecers are a large population in the Greater Montreal Area, where they have built a well-established network of educational, social, economic, and cultural institutions. There are also historical English-speaking communities in the Eastern Townships, the Ottawa Valley, the Laurentians (such as Ste. Agathe des Monts, Ste. Adolphe de Howard, Arundel, Lachute, Mont Tremblant) and the Gaspé Peninsula. By contrast, the population of Quebec City, the second-largest city in the province, is almost exclusively francophone. Overall in the province the proportion of native English speakers dropped significantly between 1951 and 2001, from 13.8% to 8% in 2001, while it has since stabilized.
The remaining 13% of the population, known as allophones, are native speakers of more than 30 different languages. With the exception of Aboriginal peoples in Quebec (the Inuit, Huron, Mohawks, Iroquois, Abenaki, Montagnais, Cree, Innu, Ojibway etc.), the majority are products of recent immigration and often come to adopt either English or French as home languages.
Numbers of native speakers
Of the population of 8,501,833 counted by the 2021 census, 8,406,905 completed the section about their first language. Of these, 8,098,355 gave singular responses. The languages most commonly reported were the following:
LanguageNumber ofnative speakersPercentage ofsingular responsesTotal8,098,355100.0% French 6,291,445 77.69% English 639,365 7.89% Arabic 198,790 2.45% Spanish 177,155 2.19% Italian 90,940 1.12% Mandarin 57,445 0.71% Kabyle 57,135 0.70% Haitian Creole 46,470 0.57% Portuguese 41,540 0.51% Romanian 35,810 0.44% Greek 34,085 0.42% Russian 31,700 0.39% Vietnamese 28,630 0.35% Cree-Innu languages 27,875 0.34% Yue (Cantonese) 24,240 0.30% Punjabi (Panjabi) 23,830 0.29% Iranian Persian 22,130 0.27% Tagalog (Pilipino, Filipino) 17,705 0.22% Armenian 16,890 0.21% Tamil 14,230 0.18% Other Creole languages 13,055 0.16% Inuktut (Inuit) 12,770 0.16% Polish 12,495 0.15% Bengali 12,140 0.15% Other Niger-Congo languages 11,905 0.15% Urdu 11,325 0.14% German 11,055 0.14% Dari 10,665 0.13% Yiddish 8,985 0.11% Khmer (Cambodian) 8,730 0.11% Turkish 8,215 0.10% Gujarati 7,070 0.09% Bulgarian 6,735 0.08% Korean 6,670 0.08% Other Austronesian languages 5,735 0.07% Hindi 5,440 0.07% Ukrainian 5,065 0.06% Hungarian 4,865 0.06% Rundi (Kirundi) 4,585 0.06% Other Dravidian languages 4,120 0.05% Swahili 3,980 0.05% Wolof 3,945 0.05% Lao 3,815 0.05% Serbian 3,720 0.05% Hebrew 3,675 0.05% Kinyarwanda (Rwanda) 3,425 0.04% Other Slavic languages 3,405 0.04% Albanian 3,310 0.04% Other Indo-Aryan languages 3,220 0.04% Morisyen 3,110 0.04% Lingala 2,975 0.04% Other Germanic languages 2,955 0.04% Other Persian languages 2,820 0.03% Other Chinese languages 2,805 0.03% Other Iranian languages 2,775 0.03% Japanese 2,765 0.03% Fulah (Pular, Pulaar, Fulfulde) 2,670 0.03% Min Nan (Chaochow, Teochow, Fukien, Taiwanese) 2,665 0.03% Other Indo-European languages 2,660 0.03% Other Afro-Asiatic languages 2,630 0.03% Dutch 2,590 0.03% Croatian 2,380 0.03% Other Berber languages 2,270 0.03% Other Semitic languages 2,130 0.03% Ilocano 2,125 0.03% Bosnian 2,070 0.03%
Numerous other languages were also counted, but only languages with more than 2,000 native speakers are shown. "Other" groupings include listed languages with less than 2,000 native speakers as well as entries listed as "not otherwise specified" or "not included elsewhere".(Percentages shown are the ratio between the number of singular responses and the number of total responses.)
Canada census mother tongue – Province of Québec+Mother tongue language Census Total Year Responses Count Trend Pop % Count Trend Pop % Count Trend Pop % Count Trend Pop % 6,291,440 1.15% 74.84% 1,225,814 6.32% 14.58% 126,405 74.60% 1.50% 1,167,550 10.09% 13.88% 6,219,665 1.92% 77.10% 1,152,556 0.33% 14.29% 72,395 1.74% 0.89% 1,060,030 10.22% 13.14% 6,102,210 3.82% 78.07% 1,148,856 4.17% 14.70% 71,555 65.12% 0.91% 961,700 2.34% 12.29% 5,877,660 2.01% 79.04% 1,103,475 3.32% 14.84% 43,335 13.43% 0.58% 939,350 24.14% 12.69% 5,761,765 1.07% 80.85% 1,067,977 5.01% 14.99% 50,060 1.04% 0.71% 756,710 15.07% 10.61% 5,700,150 n/a 80.91% 1,124,335 n/a 15.96% 50,585 n/a 0.72% 657,580 n/a 9.33%
Cities
+ 2011 mother tongue by census metropolitan areas (CMAs), census subdivisions (CSDs) or census divisions (CDs)City Mother tongue(s)Only French Only English English & French OtherIsland of Montreal (CD) 46.95% 16.64%1.17%35.24% City of Montreal (CSD) 50.30% 12.67% 1.07%35.96% Greater Montreal Area (CMA) 63.27% 11.62% 1.07%24.04% Quebec City (CMA) 94.89% 1.43% 0.44% 3.24% Gatineau (CSD) 77.25% 11.04% 1.68% 10.04% Sherbrooke (CMA) 89.38% 4.89% 0.78% 4.95% Saguenay (CMA) 98.25% 0.78% 0.24% 0.73% Trois-Rivières (CMA) 96.54% 1.11% 0.39% 1.96% All figures are rounded to 0.01%.
Montreal
There are today three distinct territories in the Greater Montreal Area: the metropolitan region, Montreal Island, and Montreal, the city. (The island and the city were coterminous for a time between the municipal merger of 2002 and the "demerger" which occurred in January 2006.)
Quebec allophones account for 9% of the population of Quebec. The vast majority of them (88%) reside in Greater Montreal. Anglophones are also concentrated in the region of Montreal (80% of their numbers).
Francophones account for 65% of the total population of Greater Montreal, anglophones 12.6% and allophones 20.4%. On the island of Montreal, the francophone majority dropped to 46.96% by 2011, a net decline since the 1970s owing to francophone outmigration to more affluent suburbs in Laval and the South Shore (fr. Rive-Sud) and an influx of allophone immigrants. The anglophones account for 16.64% of the population and the allophones 35.24%.
Bilingualism
According to the 2016 census, the rate of bilingualism in English and French was 44.5 percent, a figure which continued to grow at a much faster rate in Quebec than in the rest of Canada. Bilingual speakers represented 42.6 percent in 2011, and 40.6 percent in 2006 (in 2016, it was 17.9 percent in Canada overall, up from just at 17.5 percent in 2011).
While 44.5 percent of the total population of Quebec reported being bilingual in 2016, this figure rose to 70 percent for those aged 14 to 17.
Almost 90 cities, towns or boroughs in Quebec are considered officially bilingual, a designation allowing them to offer services, post signage and mail communications in the country's two official languages.
Birth rate