Demographics of Toronto

The demographics of Toronto make Toronto one of the most multicultural cities in the world. Data released by Statistics Canada as part of the 2006 census indicates that Toronto is more ethnically diverse than Miami, Los Angeles, and New York City. 49.9% of Toronto's population is foreign-born.

A majority of Torontonians claim their ethnic origins from as either in whole or part from England (15.9%), Canada (12.1%) Scotland (11.1%), China (10.6%), Ireland (10.5%), India (9.6%), Italy (9.2%), Germany (5.1%), France (4.8%), Poland (4.1%), Portugal (3.7%), the Phillipines (3.6%), and Jamaica (3.2%). There is also a significant population of Jews (2.8%), Ukrainians (2.4%), Russians (2.0%), Spanish (1.9%), Dutch (1.9%), Greeks (1.8%), Sri Lankans (1.6%), Pakistanis (1.5%), Koreans (1.1%), Iranians (1.1%), Vietnamese (1.1%), Welsh (1.0%), and Hungarians (1.0%). Communities of Afghans, Arabs, Barbadians, Bengalis, Bulgarians, Colombians, Croats, Ecuadorians, Grenadians, Guyanese, Mexicans, Romanians, Salvadorans, Serbs, Somalis, Tibetans, Trinidadians, and Vincentians are also to be found throughout the city. Neighbourhoods such as Chinatown, Corso Italia, Little India, Greektown, Koreatown, Little Jamaica, Little Portugal and Roncesvalles are examples of these large ethno-cultural populations.

Christianity is the largest faith group in Toronto's census metropolitan area, adhered to by 64% of the population, with Roman Catholics in particular constituting 33.4% of the population. The Anglican Church and United Church of Canada account for 6.9% each, while 2.1% are Baptists, 1.8% are Greek Orthodox, and 1.7% are Presbyterians. Other religious groups include Islam (5.5%), Hinduism (4.1%), Judaism (3.5%), Buddhism (2.1%), and Sikhism (1.9%). 16.6% of the population have no religious affiliation.

While English is the predominant language spoken by Torontonians, Statistics Canada reports that other language groups are significant, including the Chinese languages (particularly Cantonese and Mandarin), Italian, Punjabi, Spanish, Tagalog, Urdu, Tamil, Portuguese, Persian, Arabic, Russian, Polish, Gujarati, Korean, Vietnamese, and Greek. Canada's other official language, French, is spoken by 1.2% of the population.