1971 Canadian census
← 1966 June 1, 1971 1976 →
General information
Country	Canada
Results
Total population	21,568,311 (7.8)
Most populous province/territory	Ontario (7,703,106)
Least populous province/territory	Yukon (18,388)

The 1971 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population. Census day was June 1, 1971.^[1]

On that day,Statistics Canada attempted to count every person in Canada. The total population count was 21,568,311. This was a 7.8% increase over the 1966 Census of 20,014,880.^[2]

A summary of information about Canada.^[3][4]

This census was the first timeStatistics Canada organized the event as theDominion Bureau of Statistics changed its name on August 3, 1971, due to theStatistics Act on May 1, 1970. One of the reasons it did this is because the wordDominion cannot be well translated into French.^[5]

Canada experienced one of its biggest census growths with the population increasing by 7.8% from 20,014,880 in 1966 to 21,568,311.

TheNorthwest Territories andYukon's populations soared rising above the national average with the Northwest Territories 17.4% and Yukon 21.7%.British Columbia andAlberta's populations also saw substantial growth, both going over the national average for British Columbia to grow 14.2% and Alberta 10.1%.

The census also revealed a rise in the number of immigrants living in the country. 1,347,155 or 6.2% of the population compared to 1,055,818 or 5.2% in 1966.^[6]Ontario was the most diverse province with 9.9% of inhabitants reporting citizenship other than Canadian. Newfoundland, as it was called before 2001, was the least diverse province with 99.1% of the population having Canadian citizenship.^[7][8] 60.1% of people claimed English as their mother tongue compared to 58.4% a decade earlier. Canadians who claimed French as their mother tongue, however, shrunk from 28% to 26.8%.^[9][10]

The population of eachprovince in Canada:^[11]

Rank	Province or territory	Population as of 1971 census	Population as of 1966 census	Change	Percent change
1	Ontario	7,703,106	6,960,870	742,236	9.6
2	Quebec	6,027,764	5,780,845	246,919	4.0
3	British Columbia	2,184,621	1,873,674	310,947	14.2
4	Alberta	1,627,874	1,463,203	164,671	10.1
5	Manitoba	988,247	963,066	25,181	2.5
6	Saskatchewan	926,242	955,344	-29,102	-3.0
7	Nova Scotia	788,960	756,039	32,921	4.2
8	New Brunswick	634,557	616,788	17,769	2.8
9	Newfoundland	522,104	493,396	28,708	5.5
10	Prince Edward Island	111,641	108,535	3,106	2.8
11	Northwest Territories	34,807	28,738	6,069	17.4
12	Yukon	18,388	14,382	4,006	21.7
	Canada	21,568,311	20,014,880	1,553,431	7.2

Population bymother tongue:^[12][13]

Mother tongue	Population as of 1971 census	Population as of 1966 census	Change	Percent change
English	12,973,810	10,660,534	2,313,276	21,71
French	5,793,650	5,123,151	670,499	26,9
German	561,085	563,713	2,628	-0,47
Italian	538,360	339,626	198,734	58.52
Ukrainian	309,855	361,496	51,641	-14,29
Other	1,391,551	1,645,932	254,381	18.29

• Population and housing censuses by country

• 1971 in Canada
• Censuses in Canada
• 1971 censuses