(JOHN MCDONALD / iNFOnews.ca)
February 08, 2017 - 11:13 AM
KELOWNA - Although Kelowna remains one of the fastest growing cities in the country, its rate of growth has declined since 2011, according to the 2016 census report released by Statistics Canada Wednesday.
The city has seen an 8.4 per cent population growth from 2011 to 2016, according to the Feb. 8 report. However, this number is down from the five year period between 2006 and 2011, which saw a 9.6 per cent growth rate — a decrease of 12.5 per cent.
The city is now home to 127,380 people, up from 117,312 in 2011 and 107,035 in 2006.
Kelowna is considered a major metropolitan area by Statistics Canada, which factors in the entire Central Okanagan Regional District. That census area grew to 194,882 and a growth rate of 8.4. Broken down, Westbank First Nation leads the way in population growth at 29.6 on Indian Reserve 9 and 19.4 on Indian Reserve 10. Lake Country leads all other Central Okanagan communities in growth rate at 10.4 per cent to bring the population to 12,922. West Kelowna grew 5.7 per cent to 32,655 while Peachland grew 4.4 per cent to 5,428.
Our greater metropolitan area remains the third largest in B.C.
Overall, B.C. saw a 5.6 per cent growth increase during the last five years.
Canada as a whole dropped from 5.9 per cent growth during the previous census period, to 5.0 per cent.
As of May 2016, Canada’s population is 35,151,728, a five per cent increase from 2011 when it was 33.5 million. Canada ranks number one for growth amongst G7 countries, according to the census.
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