Demographics of Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia (Latin for New Scotland; Nouvelle-Écosse; Alba Nuadh) is a Canadian province located on the country's southeastern coast. It is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada, and its capital, Halifax, is a major economic centre of the region. Geographically, Nova Scotia is the second smallest province in Canada, with an area of 52824.71 km2. As of 2021, it has a population of 969,383 people.

History
Source: Statistics Canada * among provinces. ** Preliminary 2006 census estimate.

Population centres
The Halifax population centre is the largest urban area in Nova Scotia. Statistics Canada recognizes a total of 37 population centres in the province.

Municipalities
Nova Scotia has four regional municipalities.

Towns
Nova Scotia has 26 towns, not including the former Town of Canso that dissolved to become part of Guysborough County on July 1, 2012, and the former Towns of Bridgetown and Springhill which dissolved on April 1, 2015.

Ethnic origins
Note: the percentages do not necessarily add up to 100% as multiple responses are allowed. Ethnic origins with less than 2% of the responses are not listed.

Knowledge of languages
The question on knowledge of languages allows for multiple responses. The following figures are from the 2021 Canadian Census and the 2016 Canadian Census, and lists languages that were selected by at least 0.5 per cent of respondents.

Mother tongue
The 2011 Canadian census showed a population of 921,727. Of the 904,285 singular responses to the census question concerning mother tongue the most commonly reported languages were: There were also 275 single-language responses for Turkish; 195 for Non-verbal languages (Sign languages); 30 for Malay; 100 for Bantu languages; 70 for Kurdish; 120 for Slovak; and 5 for Estonian. Figures shown are for the number of single language responses and the percentage of total single-language responses.

Immigration
The 2021 census reported that immigrants (individuals born outside Canada) comprise 71,570 persons or 7.5 percent of the total population of Nova Scotia.

Recent immigration
The 2021 Canadian census counted a total of 21,385 people who immigrated to Nova Scotia between 2016 and 2021.

Interprovincial migration


From 1971 to 2011, Nova Scotia had a persistent negative trend in net interprovincial migration. Combined with a declining birth rate, this posed a significant demographic challenge for the province, as its population was projected to decline. The destination for Nova Scotia migrants was most often Ontario, until the turn of the 21st century when Alberta became a more popular destination; New Brunswick ranks as a distant third.

Source: Statistics Canada

Employment
As of February 2019, the unemployment rate for the province is 6.4 percent. Halifax Regional Municipality 4.9 percent