Page 3 - Annuaire Statistique Québec - 1918

PR.EFACE

The present edition of the Slatistical Year Book has the ad vantage of
setting forth definitive figures of the Federal Census of June 1941, as well
as a series of classifications on the population of the Province.
The decennial Census shows that the total population of the Province on
June Ist 1941, was 3,331,882 inhabitants, as against 2,874,662 in 1931 while
that of Canada was 11,506,685. During the decade, the population of the
Dominion increased by 1,129,869 souls. Of this number, Quebec contributed
an increase of 457,220 or 40 per cent. The increase in the population of the
Province of Quebec \Vas 15.90 pel' cent as compared \Vith 10.89 per cent for
the \Vhole of Canada. The population of the Province of Quebec has now
attained 28.96 pel' cent of the Dominion as compared \Vith 27.70 pel' cent in
1931. According to the Census of 1931, the population of the Province of
Ontario exceeded this province by 557,021 souls whereas accol'ding to the last
Census, the excess was only 455,773.
The population of French origin was 2,695,032 as against 2,270,059 in
1931. It is therefore apparent that during the decade, the contribution of the
French element in the increase of 457,220 of the population of Quebec was
424.,973. The population of races from the British Iles (English, Irish, Scotch
and others) \Vas 452,887 as compared with 432,726 in 1931 or an increase of
20,161 souls. This is an increase of 4.6 pel' cent for the British element
whereas the French group shows an increase of 18.7 pel' cent as compared with
15.90 pel' cent for the whole of the Province. The French proportion of the
population of the Province lS 80.9 pel' cent as against 13.6 pel' cent for the
British element.
Statistics of the Census also show classifications of the population accord-
ing to the language spoken and the mother tongue. The Census of 1941
shows that there were 2,717,287 persans who indicated that French was their
mother tongue and 468,996 who gave English as theirs. These figures are
ta be compared with 2,695,032 and 452,887, the respective population oI'
French origin and of British extraction.
The number of Roman Catholics in 1941 amounted to 2,894,621 or 86.87
pel' cent as against 2,463,160 in 1931 or 85.7 pel' cent.
The urban population of the Province numbers 2,109,684, and the rural
population 1,222,198, i.e. 63.32 and 36.68 pel' cent respectively. Aftel' Con-
federation, at the first Census of 1871, the urban population was only 271,851
inhabitants as against the rural population of 919,665. It will be seen by these
figures that between 1871 and 1941, a pel'iod of seventy years, the rural popula-
tion of the Province only increased by 302,533 whereas the urban population
shows an increase of a little less than two millions, the percentage of the urban
population increasing frOID 19.50 to 63.32 whereas the rural population decreused
from 80.50 to 36.68 pel' cent. It mllst be pointed out, however, that this
movcment of the populat.ion towards urban centers was stemmed during the
course of t.he decade previous to ][941; in fact the urban population of t.he