The Demographics of Montreal concern population growth and structure for Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The information is analyzed by Statistics Canada and compiled every five years, with the most recent census having taken place in 2021.

Population history Population of Montreal, and Metropolitan Area by year Year City Island Metropolitan16604071663596166662416811,38917002,96917608,30017719,770178117,945179118,00018019,000181113,300182118,767183127,297184140,356185157,715186190,3231871130,022144,044174,0901881176,263193,171223,5121891254,278277,525308,1691901325,653360,838393,6651911490,504554,761594,8121921618,506724,205774,3301931818,5771,003,8681,064,4481941903,0071,116,8001,192,23519511,021,5201,320,2321,539,30819561,109,4391,507,6531,745,00119611,201,5591,747,6962,110,67919661,293,9921,923,9712,570,98519711,214,3521,958,5952,743,20819761,080,5451,869,6452,802,48519811,018,6091,760,1202,862,28619861,015,4201,752,3612,921,35719911,017,6661,775,8713,127,24219961,016,3761,775,7783,326,44720011,039,5341,812,7233,426,35020061,620,6931,854,4423,635,57120111,649,5191,886,4813,824,22120161,704,6941,942,0444,098,92720211,762,949 2,004,2654,291,732 According to Statistics Canada, at the time of the 2011 Canadian census the city of Montreal proper had 1,649,519 inhabitants. A total of 3,824,221 lived in the Montreal Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) at the same 2011 census, up from 3,635,556 at the 2006 census (within 2006 CMA boundaries), which means a population growth rate of +5.2% between 2006 and 2011. Montreal's 2012-2013 population growth rate was 1.135%, compared with 1.533% for all Canadian CMAs.

In the 2006 census, children under 14 years of age (621,695) constituted 17.1%, while inhabitants over 65 years of age (495,685) numbered 13.6% of the total population.

Future projections The current estimate of the Montreal CMA population, as of July 1, 2013, according to Statistics Canada is 3,981,802. According to StatsCan, by 2030, the Greater Montreal Area is expected to number 5,275,000 with 1,722,000 being visible minorities.

Ethnic diversity City of Montreal

According to the 2021 census, some 38.8% of the population of Montreal and 27.2% that of Metro Montreal, are members of a visible minority (non-white) group. Blacks (198,610 persons or 11.5%) contribute to the largest minority group, with Montreal having the 2nd highest number of black people in Canada after Toronto, as well as having the highest concentrations of black people amongst major Canadian cities. Other groups, such as Arabs (141,935 persons or 8.2%), South Asians (79,670 persons or 4.6%), Latin Americans (78,150 persons or 4.5%), and Chinese (56,935 persons or 3.3%) are also large in number. Visible minorities are defined by the Canadian Employment Equity Act as "persons, other than Aboriginals, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour."

Panethnic groups in the City of Montreal (2001−2021)Panethnicgroup20212016201120062001 European 1,038,940 1,082,620 1,092,465 1,171,295 784,420 African 198,610 171,385 147,100 122,880 68,245 Middle Eastern 159,435 137,525 114,780 76,910 34,035 South Asian 79,670 55,595 53,515 51,255 33,310 Latin American 78,150 67,525 67,160 53,970 31,190 Southeast Asian 65,260 58,315 61,320 47,950 33,505 East Asian 64,825 61,400 52,195 52,650 25,810 Indigenous 15,315 12,035 9,510 7,600 3,555 Other 23,010 16,835 14,585 9,205 5,675 Total responses 1,723,230 1,663,225 1,612,640 1,593,725 1,019,735 Total population 1,762,949 1,704,694 1,649,519 1,620,693 1,039,534 +Visible minority and Indigenous population in the City of MontrealGroup20212016201120062001Visible minority668,975568,570510,665414,830231,760Indigenous15,31512,0359,5107,6003,555 +Visible minorities and Indigenous peoples in the City of Montreal(2021 Census) Population group Population % of total population Visibleminority Black 198,610 Arab 141,935 South Asian 79,670 Latin American 78,150 Chinese 56,935 Southeast Asian 37,905 Filipino 27,355 West Asian 17,500 Korean 5,245 Japanese 2,645 Mixed visible minority 17,540 Visible minority, 5,470 Total visible minority population 668,975 Indigenous First Nations 8,065 Métis 5,705 Inuit 545 Other 1,000 Total Indigenous population 15,315 European 1,038,940 Total responses 1,723,230 Total population 1,762,949 100%

Greater Montreal Panethnic groups in Greater Montreal (1981−2021)Panethnicgroup2021201620112006200119961981 European 3,059,895 3,070,210 2,963,860 2,980,280 2,911,230 2,876,260 African 340,140 270,940 216,310 169,065 139,305 122,320 Middle Eastern 285,615 220,055 172,345 113,405 79,410 73,950 Latin American 137,850 110,195 98,010 75,400 53,155 46,700 South Asian 121,260 85,925 79,540 70,615 57,935 46,165 East Asian 116,820 100,265 83,420 79,665 58,165 51,930 Southeast Asian 101,560 88,755 89,645 68,475 57,460 51,985 Indigenous 46,085 34,745 26,285 17,865 11,085 9,960 Other/Multiracial 40,565 28,710 23,060 13,755 12,900 8,365 Total: Visible minority 1,143,810 904,845 762,330 590,380 458,330 401,425 146,365 Total responses 4,206,455 4,009,795 3,752,470 3,588,520 3,380,645 3,287,645 2,798,040 Total population 4,291,732 4,098,927 3,824,221 3,635,571 3,426,350 3,326,447 2,862,286

+ Top 25 Ethnic Origins in Montreal CMA (2016)Includes Multiple ResponsesEthnic originPopulationPercentage Canadian1,670,65543.8%French870,24521.7%Italian279,8007.0%Irish239,4606.0%English138,3203.4%Haitian132,2553.3%Scottish124,1303.1%Chinese108,7752.7%First Nations101,9152.5%Québécois92,1152.3%German86,0252.1%Algerian84,5852.1%Moroccan77,4501.9%Spanish68,6001.7%Greek66,3951.7%Lebanese68,7651.7%Polish64,8951.6%Portuguese56,4051.4%Russian49,2751.2%East Indian48,4851.2%Romanian47,9801.2%Vietnamese38,6601.0%Filipino35,6850.9%Ukrainian35,0500.8%Belgian31,8400.8%

Future projections + Panethnic origin projections (2041)2041Population% European 3,249,000 African 673,000 Middle Eastern 597,000 East Asian 252,000 Latin American 213,000 South Asian 195,000 Southeast Asian 167,000 Indigenous 87,000 Other/multiracial 76,000 Projected Metro Montreal Population 5,510,000

Ethnic groups Indigenous In 2021, there were 46,090 Indigenous people living in Greater Montreal.

European French

Montreal is the cultural centre of Quebec, French-speaking Canada and French-speaking North America as a whole, and an important city in the Francophonie. The majority of the population is francophone. Montreal is the largest French-speaking city in North America, and second in the world after Paris when counting the number of native-language Francophones (third after Paris and Kinshasa when counting second-language speakers). The city is a hub for French language television productions, radio, theatre, circuses, performing arts, film, multimedia and print publishing.

Montreal plays a prominent role in the development of French-Canadian and Québécois culture. Its contribution to culture is therefore more of a society-building endeavour rather than limited to civic influence. The best talents from French Canada and even the French-speaking areas of the United States converge in Montreal and often perceive the city as their cultural capital. Montreal is also the most important stop in the Americas for Francophone artists from Europe, Africa and Asia.

The cultural divide between Canada's Francophone and Anglophone culture is strong and was famously referred to as the "Two Solitudes" by Canadian writer Hugh MacLennan. Reflecting their deep-seated colonial roots, the Solitudes were historically strongly entrenched in Montreal, splitting the city geographically at Saint Laurent Boulevard.

British Isles

Montreal is the focal point of Quebec's English-speaking community. Arriving in waves from the United Kingdom and eventually the entire British Commonwealth, the historical English-speaking community in Montreal includes Quebecers of English, Scottish, and Irish origin (as reflected in the city's flag) as well as Loyalists, escaped slaves, and immigrants from the Caribbean and the Indian subcontinent.Originally intended to be the sole beneficiaries of Bill 101's allowance for English schooling, as per Saint-Leonard, Quebec#Saint-Leonard Conflict

With the advent of mass migration from beyond the confines of the British Empire, the English-speaking community in Montreal expanded to include a huge array of different cultures and ethnic groups. Since Chinese, Jewish, Greek, and other non-Catholic immigrants were barred from attending French-language Catholic schools under the Confessional school system, they attended English-language Protestant schools instead and became acculturated into the English-speaking community. This trend was boosted by the Catholic Church's policy, called la Revanche des berceaux or the "Revenge of the Cradle", of encouraging French-Canadians to maintain a very high birth-rate in order to bolster the community's demographic weight in Canada. This policy, along with the Church's traditional mistrust of entrepreneurship and the business world, caused French-Canadians in Quebec to remain largely poor and rural while shunning immigration in an attempt to resist assimilation. Immigrants who arrived prior to the Quiet Revolution therefore largely assimilated into the increasingly diverse English-speaking community in Montreal, while the city's French-speaking community remained largely white, French, and Catholic, growing through high birth rates and migration from the countryside rather than immigration.Québec since confederation at The Canadian Encyclopedia, accessed September 1, 2019Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Canada#Quebec

During the Quiet Revolution, French Quebecers left the Church en masse and birth rates fell drastically as they began to question the Duplessis-era establishment's legitimacy. This awakening coincided with the arrival of a massive wave of Italian immigrants who, despite being Catholic, demanded English-language training and bilingual schools for their children. This community's desire to see its children, like those of fellow immigrant groups and the English community, educated in the majority language of Canada rather than the language of an insular minority clashed directly with Quebec francophones' emergent self-image as a majority community within Quebec rather than a national minority within Canada. With birth-rates declining dramatically, French Quebecers wished to tap into immigration to maintain their share of the population and the government set its sights on the Italian community, leading to the Saint-Leonard Conflict in which the Italian community sought to maintain freedom of choice in education in the face of the government's demands that they send their children to French-language schools. The Government of Quebec intended to allow English-language schooling only for Quebec's "historical English minority", a move which the Italian community viewed as discriminatory. The matter was eventually settled with the advent of Bill 101, which allowed anyone who arrived before 1976 to continue school in the language of their choice while requiring all new immigrants from outside Quebec (including English-speaking Canadians) to attend school in French; this last requirement, the so-called Quebec clause was eventually struck down by the Supreme Court and expanded to allow anyone who received the better part of their schooling in English in Canada to send their children to English school in Quebec (in practice, this complex formula was designed so as not to bestow a right to English education on anyone who was educated in an English-speaking country and later became a Canadian citizen).