Ontario is the most populous of the 13 provinces and territories of Canada, accounting for nearly 40 percent of all Canadians. Located in east-central Canada, it is the second-largest province in total area, and the fourth-largest when the territories of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut are included. It is home to Canada's capital Ottawa, and its most populous city Toronto.
Vital statistics Birth Rate: 9.7/1,000 people (2021)
Death Rate: 8.1/1,000 people (2021)
Life Expectancy at birth (2019): total: 82.6 years male: 80.4 years female: 84.7 years
Infant Mortality rate: 5.2 (2007 est)
Age structure Age GroupsTotal PercentageMaleFemale 0 to 4 years 723,016 4.91% 370,982 352,034 5 to 9 years 762,654 5.18% 389,331 373,323 10 to 14 years 792,947 5.38% 403,611 389,336 15 to 19 years 852,405 5.79% 436,529 415,876 20 to 24 years 1,039,661 7.06% 543,213 496,448 25 to 29 years 1,077,433 7.31% 555,954 521,479 30 to 34 years 1,041,952 7.07% 527,137 514,815 35 to 39 years 992,844 6.74% 493,399 499,445 40 to 44 years 921,378 6.25% 446,692 474,686 45 to 49 years 932,058 6.33% 454,915 477,143 50 to 54 years 968,546 6.57% 478,610 489,936 55 to 59 years 1,073,519 7.29% 532,834 540,685 60 to 64 years 961,243 6.52% 469,926 491,317 65 to 69 years 803,962 5.46% 383,637 420,325 70 to 74 years 673,546 4.57% 316,777 356,769 75 to 79 years 461,015 3.13% 212,100 248,915 80 to 84 years 319,548 2.17% 140,109 179,439 85 to 89 years 204,227 1.39% 81,946 122,281 90 to 94 years 98,638 0.67% 33,530 65,108 95 to 99 years 29,527 0.20% 7,515 22,012 100 years and over 3,895 0.03% 701 3,194 Total 14,734,014 100% 7,279,448 7,454,566
Percentage surviving
The percentage surviving, is the percent of the population that would survive to certain age, if their life conditions in a given year, were extrapolated to their whole life. Data for 2019.
AgePercentage survivingmalefemale 1 99.5 99.6 1.00 5 99.5 99.5 1.00 10 99.4 99.5 1.00 15 99.4 99.5 1.00 20 99.2 99.4 1.00 25 98.9 99.2 1.00 30 98.5 99.0 1.01 35 98.0 98.8 1.01 40 97.4 98.4 1.01 45 96.6 98.0 1.01 50 95.5 97.3 1.02 55 93.9 96.3 1.03 60 91.5 94.8 1.04 65 87.8 92.5 1.05 70 82.3 88.8 1.08 75 73.9 83.0 1.12 80 61.8 73.8 1.19 85 45.6 59.9 1.31 90 26.6 40.7 1.53 95 10.2 19.5 1.92 100 1.900 5.090 2.68 105 0.149 0.573 3.85 110 0.005 0.025 5.00
Data source: Statistics Canada
Population history
YearPopulation5 year% change10 year% change% Canadianpopulation1824 150,066 - - n/a1830 213,156 - - n/a1840 432,159 - 102.7% 39.93%1851 952,004 - - 51.32%1861 1,396,091 - 46.6% 55.58%1871 1,620,851 - 16.1% 43.9%1881 1,926,922 - 18.8% 45.4%1891 2,114,321 - 9.7% 48.9%1901 2,182,947 - 3.2% 40.6%1911 2,527,292 - 15.8% 35.1%1921 2,933,662 - 16.1% 33.4%1931 3,431,683 - 17.0% 33.1%1941 3,787,655 - 10.4% 32.9%1951 4,597,542 - 21.3% 32.8%1956 5,404,933 17.6% - 33.6%1961 6,236,092 15.4% 35.6% 34.2%1966 6,960,870 11.6% 28.8% 34.9%1971 7,703,105 10.7% 23.5% 35.7%1976 8,264,465 7.3% 18.7%35.9%1981 8,625,107 4.4% 12.0% 35.4%1986 9,101,695 5.5%10.1% 36.0%1991 10,084,885 10.8% 16.9% 36.9%1996 10,753,573 10.7% 18.2% 37.3%2001 11,410,046 6.1% 13.2% 38.0%2006 12,160,282 6.6% 13.1% 38.4%2011 12,851,821 5.7% 12.6% 38.4%2016 13,448,494 4.6% 9.6% 38.3%2021 14,223,942 5.8% 9.7% 38.5%
Source: Statistics Canada % Province of Canada population
Population geography Census Metropolitan Areas City2021201620112006200119961991Toronto 6,202,2255,928,040 5,583,064 5,113,149 4,682,897 4,263,757 3,898,933Ottawa-Gatineau 1,488,3071,323,783 1,236,324 1,130,761 1,063,664 1,010,498 941,814Hamilton 785,184747,545 721,053 692,911 662,401 624,360 599,760Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo 575,847523,894 477,160 451,235 414,284382,940 356,421London 543,551494,069 474,786 457,720 432,451 398,616 381,522St. Catharines-Niagara 433,604406,074 392,184 390,317 377,009 372,406 364,552Windsor 422,630329,144 319,246 323,342 307,877 278,685 262,075Oshawa 415,311379,848 356,177 330,594 296,298 268,773 240,104Barrie 212,856197,059 187,013 177,061 148,480 118,695 97,150Kingston 172,546161,175 159,561 152,358 146,838 143,416 136,401Greater Sudbury 170,605164,689 160,770 158,258 155,601 160,488 157,613Guelph 165,588151,984 141,097 127,009 117,344 105,420 97,667Brantford 144,162134,203 135,501 124,607 86,417 100,238 97,106Peterborough 128,624121,721 118,975 116,570 102,423 100,193 98,060Thunder Bay 123,258121,621 121,596 122,907 121,986 125,562 124,925Belleville 111,184103,472 101,668 91,518 87,395 87,871 -Chatham-Kent 104,316102,042104,075108,589107,709 - -
Ethnic origins
As of 2016 census. Ethnic groupResponses%Canadian 3,109,77023.48English 2,808,81021.21Scottish 2,107,29015.91Irish 2,095,46515.82French 1,349,25510.19German 1,189,6708.98Italian 931,8057.04Chinese 849,3406.41East Indian 774,4955.85Dutch (Netherlands) 527,7503.99Polish 523,4903.95First Nations 385,5052.91Ukrainian 376,4402.84Filipino 337,7602.55Portuguese 324,9302.45British, not includedelsewhere 323,1802.44Jamaican 257,0551.94Russian 220,8501.67Welsh 198,4701.50Spanish 171,1451.29Hungarian (Magyar) 163,5001.23Pakistani 149,0601.13Greek 148,5551.12American (USA) 140,1651.06Métis 137,4851.04
Note: The table takes dual responses (for example if someone is French-Canadian they would be added to both French and Canadian). Some places of one's ethnic origin do not refer to a single specified country of origin, i.e. Spanish refers to people from Spanish speaking countries such as Colombia, Spain, Mexico, Cuba and others; or East Indian where the respondents origin could be from Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, etc.; and the list contains about 200 nationalities known to reside in the province. However, there are options for the respondent to identify the country alone.
As regards ethnic origins and Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) of highest concentration (minimum: 1%): Ethnic originCMA% of populationChineseToronto12.0East IndianToronto11.0FilipinoToronto4.7JamaicanToronto3.4RussianToronto2.4PakistaniToronto2.1Sri LankanToronto2.0SpanishToronto1.8GreekToronto1.7IranianToronto1.7KoreanToronto1.3Other African origins, n.i.eToronto1.1JewishToronto1.0HaitianOttawa-Gatineau1.1CroatianHamilton1.9GermanKitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo21.8PortugueseKitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo4.1RomanianKitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo1.9SwissKitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo1.5BelgianLondon1.1LebaneseWindsor3.3IraqiWindsor2.2AmericanWindsor1.7SerbianWindsor1.4Arab, n.o.s.Windsor1.0British Isles origins, n.i.e.Barrie3.7CanadianGreater Sudbury45.6FrenchGreater Sudbury37.7VietnameseGuelph1.6DutchBrantford8.0HungarianBrantford3.2EnglishPeterborough39.1IrishPeterborough32.5ScottishPeterborough26.3WelshPeterborough2.6ItalianThunder Bay14.0UkrainianThunder Bay13.5FinnishThunder Bay11.4First NationsThunder Bay10.5PolishThunder Bay7.1SwedishThunder Bay4.5MétisThunder Bay2.9NorwegianThunder Bay2.8SlovakThunder Bay2.0DanishThunder Bay1.1
Future projections + Panethnic origin projections in Ontario (2031–2041)Panethnic group203120362041 European 9,335,000 9,215,000 9,044,000 South Asian 2,562,000 2,992,000 3,371,000 East Asian 1,444,000 1,583,000 1,706,000 African 1,133,000 1,288,000 1,433,000 Middle Eastern 858,000 1,018,000 1,168,000 Southeast Asian 784,000 897,000 1,006,000 Indigenous 576,000 623,000 666,000 Latin American 355,000 398,000 438,000 Other/multiracial 364,000 410,000 456,000 Projected Ontario population 17,411,000 18,424,000 19,288,000
Visible minorities and Indigenous peoples
There is a striking difference between the Toronto CMA (5,862,850) and the rest of Ontario (7,379,310); in particular, in the Toronto CMA visible minorities account for 51.4% of the population (3,011,900), whereas in the rest of Ontario the percentage of visible minorities in the overall population is much lower, at 11.8% (873,685). Back in 1996,1,338,095 of 4,232,905 Toronto CMA residents belonged to a visible minority, i.e. 31.6% of its population; regarding the rest of Ontario, only 343,950 of its 6,409,885 residents, i.e. 5.4%, were visible minorities.
+Visible minority & Indigenous population in Ontario (1986–2021)GroupPopulation2021 census2016 census2011 census2006 census2001 census1996 census1991 census1986 census Non-Indigenous / non-visible minority group British Isles 4,693,740 4,900,430 4,989,725 4,911,325 4,454,010 4,716,205 5,350,245 5,644,450 Southern European 1,821,240 1,772,165 1,671,705 1,641,995 1,445,855 1,352,105 1,224,890 1,067,915 Western European 1,648,225 1,766,975 1,711,125 1,685,670 1,447,220 1,452,345 1,425,860 1,295,080 French 1,324,505 1,372,490 1,384,660 1,361,920 1,241,895 1,334,490 1,422,405 1,391,095 Eastern European 1,164,400 1,339,605 1,219,960 1,171,165 980,845 903,655 800,930 695,675 Northern European 290,255 266,080 255,555 245,595 204,455 197,435 172,285 152,590 European, & 213,280 105,870 196,060 193,490 207,730 200,395 200,035 175,535 Total non-Indigenous / non-visible minority population 8,807,810 8,982,180 9,070,800 9,041,195 8,944,190 8,823,885 8,432,550 8,058,550 Visible minority group South Asian 1,515,295 1,150,410 965,990 794,170 554,870 390,055 285,650 152,465 Chinese 820,245 754,550 629,140 576,980 481,505 391,090 290,415 168,110 Black 768,740 627,715 539,205 473,765 411,095 356,215 310,960 218,660 Filipino 363,655 311,670 275,380 203,220 156,515 117,365 83,830 48,025 Arab 284,215 210,440 151,645 111,405 88,540 Latin American 249,190 195,950 172,560 147,135 106,835 85,745 65,080 30,030 West Asian 212,190 154,670 122,530 96,615 67,100 Multiple visible minorities 181,030 128,590 96,735 77,405 42,375 35,160 27,840 23,085 Southeast Asian 167,845 133,855 137,875 110,045 86,410 75,910 52,725 30,360 Visible minority, 124,120 97,970 81,130 56,845 78,915 52,170 715 715 Korean 99,425 88,940 78,295 69,540 53,955 35,400 27,485 18,125 Japanese 31,420 30,835 29,085 28,080 24,925 24,275 23,900 20,060 Arab/West Asian 118,655 129,010 65,615 Total visible minority population 4,817,360 3,885,585 3,279,565 2,745,205 2,153,045 1,682,045 1,297,605 775,250 Indigenous group First Nations 251,030 236,685 201,105 158,400 131,560 112,825 220,140 146,580 Métis 134,615 120,585 86,015 73,610 48,340 21,530 26,905 14,330 Indigenous responses, 9,520 7,540 8,045 6,540 5,345 Multiple Indigenous responses 7,120 5,725 2,910 1,910 1,695 1,350 4,195 Inuk (Inuit) 4,310 3,860 3,355 2,040 1,380 1,150 5,245 2,265 Total Indigenous population 406,585 374,395 301,430 242,495 188,315 136,860 246,895 167,370 Total responses 14,031,755 13,242,160 12,651,795 12,028,895 11,285,550 10,642,790 9,977,050 9,001,170 Total population 14,223,942 13,448,494 12,851,821 12,160,282 11,410,046 10,753,573 10,084,885 9,101,694
Language The following figures are from the 2016 census. The tables includes languages that were selected by at least 0.99 per cent of respondents. Respondents to the census are able to provide multiple responses for questions relating to knowledge of languages, and mother tongue.
Knowledge of languages
The question on knowledge of languages allows for multiple responses, and first appeared on the 1991 Canadian census.