Bilingual Belt - Demographic Trends in More Recent Years

Demographic Trends in More Recent Years

Demographic data from more recent censuses indicate that the geographic extent of the bilingual belt has remained largely unchanged in the nearly half century since the 1961 census, although assimilation and migration patterns have caused some population characteristics to change over time. Most notably, rates of bilingualism among the English-mother tongue population in the Quebec part of the bilingual belt are now far higher than they were in 1961.

Based on the 2006 census, 63% of bilingual Canadians lived in the bilingual belt, a region which represents 24% of the overall Canadian population. Geographic distribution of Canadians in the rest of Quebec and New Brunswick correspond roughly to their share of the overall population. Outside those provinces, bilingual Canadians are underrepresented.

The bilingual belt also contains the highest proportion of individuals who are incapable of speaking the official language of the province. Despite this, a very small proportion of Canadians are incapable of speaking their province’s official language. In Quebec, less than 5% of Quebecers (or 1% of Canadians overall) reported that they can only speak English. In the rest of Canada (excluding New Brunswick) only 0.25% percent of Canadians reported that they can only speak French. New Brunswick serves as the exception where 56% of the population can only speak English, and 10% can only speak French.