Get started
  1. Home
  2. Census Atlas
  3. Provinces
  4. British Columbia
Census Atlas profile

Who lives in British Columbia.

5,000,879 people lived in British Columbia in 2021. 29.0% were immigrants (Canada: 23.0%) and 4.0% had arrived from 2016 to 2021.

Data 2021 CensusNext update Census 2026 (from Feb. 2027)

Population, 20215,000,879+7.6% since 2016
Immigrants29.0%4.0% arrived 2016–2021
Visible minority34.4%
Median household income (2020)$85,000rent $1,370/mo
Map

British Columbia, region by region.

29 census divisions (counties, regional districts and similar areas) cover the whole province. Switch to City neighbourhoods for census-tract maps of its 7 metropolitan areas. Click an area for its profile.

Loading map…

Scroll or pinch to zoom · drag to move · click an area for details

Source: Statistics Canada, Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population; boundaries: Statistics Canada 2021 boundary files. Adapted from Statistics Canada. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.

Profile

Who lives in British Columbia, in charts.

Visible minority groups

Share of the population in private households. Statistics Canada term, defined in the Employment Equity Act.

GroupSharePeople
Chinese11.2%550,590
South Asian9.6%473,965
Filipino3.5%174,280
Korean1.5%72,815
Southeast Asian1.5%71,785
West Asian1.4%69,270
Latin American1.3%65,970
Black1.3%61,760
Multiple visible minorities1.2%58,840
Japanese0.9%44,120
Arab0.6%28,010
Visible minority, n.i.e.0.4%18,080

Source: Statistics Canada, Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population.

Languages spoken most often at home

Non-official languages, single responses.

GroupSharePeople
Punjabi (Panjabi)3.7%184,065
Mandarin3.3%162,130
Yue (Cantonese)2.8%136,525
Korean0.9%45,525
Tagalog (Pilipino, Filipino)0.9%45,380
Iranian Persian0.7%32,375
Spanish0.6%30,960
Vietnamese0.4%20,890
Hindi0.4%17,670
Russian0.3%16,090

Source: Statistics Canada, Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population.

Top 15 ethnic or cultural origins

People can report more than one origin, so shares add up to more than 100%.

GroupSharePeople
English20.7%1,019,250
Scottish15.8%774,455
Irish12.8%627,920
German11.0%539,145
Chinese10.5%517,805
Canadian9.3%459,320
French6.4%312,750
Indian (India)5.6%275,975
Ukrainian4.3%210,100
British Isles3.9%191,025
Dutch3.9%189,985
Filipino3.5%172,915
Italian3.3%162,485
Norwegian2.8%137,170
Polish2.7%134,635

Source: Statistics Canada, Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population.

Immigrants: top places of birth

Share of all residents born in each place (immigrants only).

GroupSharePeople
China15.3%217,970
India13.8%197,115
Philippines9.2%131,645
United Kingdom8.2%116,525
Hong Kong5.5%78,855
United States of America4.2%59,920
Korea, South3.3%47,520
Iran3.2%45,970
Taiwan2.8%40,445
Viet Nam2.3%32,390
Germany2.2%30,910
Netherlands1.1%16,070

Source: Statistics Canada, Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population.

Recent immigrants (2016 to 2021): top places of birth

Share of all residents.

GroupSharePeople
India20.0%39,390
China15.9%31,450
Philippines10.7%21,220
United States of America4.4%8,760
United Kingdom3.9%7,675
Korea, South3.7%7,220
Iran3.0%5,850
Brazil2.6%5,130
Syria2.5%4,955
Australia1.7%3,280

Source: Statistics Canada, Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population.

Immigrants by period of arrival

CategoryShare of residents
Before 19805.7%
1980 to 19903.3%
1991 to 20006.1%
2001 to 20106.4%
2011 to 20153.4%
2016 to 20214.0%

Source: Statistics Canada, Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population.

Immigrants admitted 1980 to 2021, by category

Share of residents.

CategoryShare of residents
Economic immigrants57.7%
Immigrants sponsored by family32.5%
Refugees8.5%
Other immigrants1.2%

Source: Statistics Canada, Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population.

Cities

Metropolitan areas in British Columbia.

Kelowna14.4% immigrantsKamloops9.8% immigrantsChilliwack14.5% immigrantsAbbotsford - Mission26.1% immigrantsVancouver41.8% immigrantsVictoria18.9% immigrantsNanaimo15.3% immigrants
More data

Related

DataImmigration to British Columbia
AtlasAll provinces
AtlasInteractive map

About this data. Adapted from Statistics Canada. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product. Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population. Counts are randomly rounded to multiples of 5 or 10 and very small areas are suppressed by Statistics Canada; we show those as “not available”. Ethnic or cultural origin allows several answers per person, so shares add up to more than 100%. Origin and language data describe ancestry and language use; they are not a measure of who is Canadian. These pages describe what happened, using official statistics. They do not predict policy, estimate anyone’s chances, or rank communities. See methods and definitions.