The Calgary population Calgary has reached 1.2 million (1,239,220). This is what makes Calgary the third-largest city in Canada and the biggest city in Alberta, and the 20th-largest city in North America.
The most recent information available from Statistics Canada shows that the population of the Calgary Census Metropolitan Area (of which the city of Calgary is the largest portion) was 1,392,609 as of 2016. In 2016, the Calgary CMA is home to 4percent of the people living in Canada.
Calgary is among the cities that are growing fastest in Canada. The city’s population increased by 12.99 percent between the censuses of 2011 and 2016.
Calgary is situated within the southern part of the Canadian province known as Alberta. It’s about 50 miles to the east of the Canadian Rockies and about 180 miles to the south of Edmonton which is the Capital City of Alberta.
This article provides detailed information on Calgary demographics, which covers both Calgary as a city Calgary as well as Calgary Census Metropolitan Area. Calgary Census Metropolitan Area.
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Calgary Metro Population
Calgary is city that has Calgary is the biggest part of the Calgary Census Metropolitan area with a total number of 139,609 people living there.
While the city of Calgary is the third-largest city in Canada however, Calgary is not the largest city in Canada.
Calgary CMA is just the fourth-largest CMA within Canada. This is because Vancouver is, which is smaller than Calgary and has a bigger metropolitan area. The two biggest census metropolitan regions by population size in Canada include Toronto as well as Montreal.
There are two additional cities within Calgary CMA. Calgary CMA, Airdrie (population of 61.581) as well as Chestermere (population: 42,564).
Airdrie as well as Chestermere are among the top ten cities that are growing fastest in Canada in the country. Airdrie increased by 44.68 percent as did Chestermere by 34.15 percent between the 2011 census and the 2016 census.
Calgary CMA is home to several smaller towns. Calgary CMA also contains several smaller towns as well as a First Nations Reserve (the Tsuu the T’ina Nation).
Calgary Population Growth
As mentioned above, Calgary is among the cities that are growing fastest in Canada. The Calgary population increased by 12.99 percent between 2011 and the year 2016.
The Calgary population growth rate is a bit lower than the growth rate in Edmonton which is the second-largest city located in Alberta that was 14.82 percent over the same time period. However, Calgary’s growth rate is three times as much as the average rate for growth in Canada.
In 2041, The population in the Calgary CMA is projected to increase to 2.4 million. A large portion of this growth will likely occur just outside the city’s boundaries in commuter towns that are suburban-like Airdrie.
The table below provides the number of people living in Calgary every five years starting in the year 1891.
| Year | Population | % Change |
| 1901 | 4,091 | n/a |
| 1906 | 11,967 | 192.5% |
| 1911 | 43,704 | 265.2% |
| 1916 | 56,514 | 29.3% |
| 1921 | 63,305 | 12.0% |
| 1926 | 65,291 | 3.1% |
| 1931 | 83,761 | 28.3% |
| 1936 | 83,407 | -0.4% |
| 1941 | 88,904 | 6.6% |
| 1946 | 100,044 | 12.5% |
| 1951 | 129,060 | 29.0% |
| 1956 | 181,780 | 40.8% |
| 1961 | 249,641 | 37.3% |
| 1966 | 330,575 | 32.4% |
| 1971 | 403,319 | 22.0% |
| 1976 | 469,917 | 16.5% |
| 1981 | 592,743 | 26.1% |
| 1986 | 636,107 | 7.3% |
| 1991 | 710,795 | 11.7% |
| 1996 | 768,082 | 8.1% |
| 2001 | 878,866 | 14.4% |
| 2006 | 988,193 | 12.4% |
| 2011 | 1,096,833 | 11.0% |
| 2016 | 1,239,220 | 12.6% |
Note: The data is provided from Statistics Canada.
Calgary Population Density
Calgary is a city in Canada. Calgary is 825.29 km2. Based on the current population of 1,239,220people, Calgary has a population density of 1,501 inhabitants per square kilometer.
The Calgary Census Metropolitan area covers 5,107.55 km2. With the population at 1,392,609 as of 2016, The Calgary CMA population density was 272.5 people per square meter.
Calgary Languages
Seven out of 10 people (70.9 percent) in Calgary are fluent in English as their primary language. Eight out of 10 Calgary residents (80.3 percent) use English mostly at home.
Another 1.5 percent of people use French as their primary language. A little more than a quarter of Calgary residents Calgary (25.3 percent) have a non-official language.
The most frequently spoken language in Calgary is Tagalog or Filipino (2.6 percent), Punjabi (2.6%), Chinese (2.3%), and Spanish (2.0 percent).
Only 7.2 percent of the population in Calgary are English Calgary residents are English French bilingual. The 20-44 age group (8.7 percent) are the most likely to be bilingual, while those who are over 65 (4.3 percent) are the least likely to be bilingual. The people whose first language is French (88.7 percent) are nearly fourteen times more than those who are bilingual than those who speak English (6.4 percent).
Ethnicity in Calgary
The largest ethnic group within Calgary includes White (67.3 percent of the total population).
A third (30.1 percent) of Calgary residents indicated during the census of 2011 that they belonged to a Visible minority group. The most populous of these groups included South Asian (7.5%), Chinese (6.8%), Filipino (4.4%), and Black (2.9 percent).
Another 2.7 percent of the population in Calgary includes Aboriginals. Metis is the most significant aboriginal group, comprising 1.4 percent of the population. They are closely followed by First Nations with 1.2% of the population. Inuit as well as other indigenous groups comprise the remaining 0.1 percent percentage of people.
When asked about their ethnicity, 24.12% of people living in Calgary said that they were English. The rest were Canadian (19.96 percent), Scottish (18.49%), German (15.51%), and Irish (15.34 percent).
Another 9.33 percent of respondents reported their ethnicity as French and 7.19 percent reported that their ethnicity was Chinese. It is important to note that the respondents were able to choose more than one type of ethnic origin.
Religion in Calgary
Based on the census of 2011 Christianity is the most popular single religious group in Calgary. 54.9 percent of Calgary residents reported as Christian.
Nearly a third (32.3 percent) said they were of no religious beliefs. The next most popular religions were Islam (5.2 percent), Sikh (2.6%), and Buddhist (2.1 percent).