Page 5 - Annuaire Statistique Québec - 1918

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province in 1931 was 63.10 pel' cent as against 35.90 pel' cent for the rural
population as compared with 63.32 and 36.68 pel' ceot respectively in 1941.
If the rural population only increased 302,533 in seventy years, from 1871
to 1941, the increase for the ten years 1931 to 1941 was 161,142 as compared
with only 141,391 for the previous sixtY years. It is also weil to mention that
Federal Statistics include as urban popuLation the inhabitants of 0,11 Cities,
Towns and Villages incorporated, whereas Provincial Statistics include the
population of these villages in the rural column. According to this manner of
comparison, the urban population is only 55.30 pel' cent whereas the rural
population increases to 44.70 pel' cent.
It is the population of French origin which shows the lowest percentage
of residence in Cities, Towns and Villages. A classification of the population
indicates that the French group has an mban proportion of 58.13 pel' cent aod
even if a transfer, as mentioned above regarding the MunicipaLities of Villages
is made, the French population of the Province is about equal1y divided be-
tween the rural and urban groups. As regards the other nationaLities, the
proportion of urban population is as follows: British races, 79.9 pel' cent;
Hebrews, 99.3 pel' cent; Italians, 96.4 pel' cent; Poles, 88.8 pel' cent; Germans,
73.3 pel' cent; other races, 89.5 pel' cent.
The decrease in the birth rate,after the crisis of 1930, is felt in a classifica-
tion of the population by age groups.. Fol' the first time, the population under
ten years of age is less than that of ten to twenty years. According to the
1941 Census, the group under five years accounts for 10.61 pel' cent of the
total population of the Province; the group of five to nine years for 10.44 pel'
cent; ten to fourteen years, 10.85 pel' cent; fifteen to nineteen years, 10.54
pel' cent. This trend is contrary to ail pl'evious censuses and where tbe
highest percentage was shown in the group of less than five years and then
decreased from group to group. If we go back fifty years to the Census of 1891,
it will be seen that the population of less than twenty years of age was exactly
50.10 pel' cent while in 1931, it was only 46.01 pel' cent and dropped to 42.44
in 1941. If we bear in mind that the group between twenty and twenty-five
years of age accounts for 9.13 pel' cent, we can say that the median age of the
population is about twenty-four years.

The 1942-1943 Year Boole has 0.11 the usual chapters. Statistics for the
years 1940 and 1941 show an increased economic activity: large increase in
production in ail fields, but more particularly in the manufacturing industry,
external trade through the ports of the Province and retail trade.
As was t.he case last year, this volume was edited by Ml'. G. Lemondc, B.A.,
L.C.S., with the assistance of MI'. Maurice Rousseau.

SAMUEL GASCON,

BUREAU OF STATISTICS,
Qucbec, April 10, 1944.