Demographics

Calgary is home to 240 different ethnic origins and has the third-largest visible minorities population in Canada. Learn more about Calgary's population, migration, languages and ethnic origins.

 

1.9% 

Population growth in 2020

120 LANGUAGES

More than 120 languages are spoken in Calgary

54.0% 

of people moving to Calgary came from international markets in 2020

Population

 Calgary is a young city with the median age of Calgarians being 37.6 years. 
(Population Estimates, Statistics Canada, 2020, Updated February 2021)

Calgary 2016 Census Infographic

 

Migration to Calgary

The Province of Alberta has one of the highest levels of net migration in Canada.  Learn about where new Calgarians are making the move from.

Census Metropolitan Area

Migrants Migrants
per Capita
Net
Intraprovincial
Migration
Net
Interprovincial
Migration
Net
International
Migration
Calgary 19,899 12.9 2,176 1,931 15,792
Edmonton 17,701 12.1 4,138 516 13,047
Vancouver 23,717 8.7 -12,189 4,381 36,935
Ottawa 19,590 13.4
3,190 3,684 12,716
Toronto 65,926 10.1
-24,880 -3,175 49,729
Montreal 21,674 5.0 -50,375 284 116,017

 Source: Statistics Canada, as at July 1, 2020;  Updated February 2021

 

TOP SOURCE COUNTRIES FOR PERMANENT RESIDENTS
Source Country # of Permanent Residents  Distribution (%)
All source countries 10,650 100.0
India 2,375 22.3
Philippines 995 9.3
Nigeria 930 8.7
People's Republic of China 660 6.2
Pakistan 560 5.3
Eritrea 385 3.6
United States of America 375 3.5
Republic of Korea 270 2.5
United Kingdom 270 2.1
Vietnam 220 2.1
Top 10 source countries 6,990 65.6
Other source countries 3,660 34.4

 Source: Calgary CMA, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, 2020

Languages

Calgarians are diverse - more than 120 first languages are spoken in the city. View statistics on the most common spoken languages in Calgary. 

KNOWLEDGE OF THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGES
    Distribution (%)
Total population 1,381,340 100.00
English only 1,249,525 90.5
French only 1,270 0.1
Both English and French 100,425 7.3
Neither English nor French 30,125 2.2

Source: Census 2016, Statistics Canada

 

LANGUAGE BY MOTHER TONGUE 
    Distribution (%)
Total population 1,381,345 100.0
 Single responses 1,341,085 97.1
 English 937,055 67.8
 French 20,715 1.5
Non-official languages 383,320 27.7
 Tagalog (Pilipino; Filipino) 40,960 3.0
 Punjabi (Punujabi) 38,840 2.8
 Cantonese 34,235 2.5
 Mandarin 28,740 2.1
 Spanish 28,685 2.1
 Arabic 18,960 1.4
 Urdu 16,925 1.2
 Vietnamese 13,540 1.0
 German 11,870 0.9
 Persian (Farsi) 9,730 0.7
 Russian 9,555 0.7
 Korean 9,220 0.7
 Hindi 7,390 0.5
 Italian 5,430 0.4
 Romanian 4,795 0.3
 Dutch 4,040 0.3
 Aboriginal 800 0.1
Multiple responses 40,255 2.9
 English and French 3,600 0.3
 English and non-official language 34,805 2.5
 French and non-official language 1,060 0.1
 English, French and non-official language 795 0.1

Source: Census 2016, Statistics Canada

Nationalities

Calgary is home to more than 240 different nationalities, and is ranked third in proportion of visible minorities in Canada. View population data by selected nationalities based on the Canadian National Household Survey information. 

POPULATION BY SELECTED ETHNIC ORIGIN
Select Ethnic Origin Group Number Distribution (%)
Total population 1,374,650 100.0
English 298,865 21.7
Canadian 275,950 20.1
Scottish 240,775 17.5
German 201,650 14.7
Irish 197,190 14.3
French 118,085 8.6
Chinese 104,620 7.6
Ukrainian 90,740 6.6
East Indian 90,625 6.6
Filipino 75,020 5.5
African 58,390 4.2
Polish 55,705 4.1
North American Aboriginal 55,430 4.0
Dutch 53,975 3.9
Italian 42,940 3.1
Norwegian 42,000 3.1
Russian 37,955 2.8
Welsh 27,270 2.0
Swedish 26,815 2.0
American 23,680 1.7
Spanish 22,255 1.6
Hungarian 22,045 1.6
Vietnamese 21,010 1.5
Danish 18,720 1.4
Pakistani 18,495 1.3
Austrian 14,490 1.1
Romanian 13,590 1.0
Korean 11,615 0.8
Portuguese 8,600 0.6
Mexican 8,460 0.6
Swiss 8,055 0.6
Japanese 7,705 0.6
Icelandic 7,605 0.6
Czech 6,755 0.6

Note: Total ethnic origin responses are the sum of single and multiple responses for each ethnic origin. The sum of all ethnic origin responses is greater than the total population estimate due to the reporting of multiple origins. 
Source: Census 2016, Statistics Canada

 

POPULATION BY VISIBLE MINORITY GROUP
Visible Minority Group Number Distribution (%)
Total population Calgary CMA 1,374,650 100.0
Total visible minority population 463,450 33.7
South Asian 122,900 8.9
Chinese 89,670 6.5
Filipino 70,660 5.1
Black 54,195 3.9
Latin American 27,710 2.0
Arab 26,320 1.9
Southeast Asian 23,235 1.7
West Asian 12,805 0.9
Korean 10,995 0.8
Japanese 5,570 0.4
Visible minority, not included elsewhere 4,610 0.3
Multiple visible minority 14,780 1.1
Not a visible minority 911,200 66.3

Source: Census 2016, Statistics Canada

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