# Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia

Lunenburg County is a historical county and census division on the South Shore of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Major settlements include Bridgewater, Lunenburg, and Mahone Bay.

## History

Named in honour of the British king who was also the duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, it was established in 1759, when the Nova Scotia peninsula was divided into five counties. The county became smaller when new counties were created from its boundaries: Queens (1762), Hants (1781), Shelburne (1784), and Sydney (1784).
By Chapter 52 of the Statutes of 1863, Lunenburg County was divided into two districts for court sessional purposes – Chester and Lunenburg. That statute provided authority for the appointment of a Custos Rotulorum and for the establishment of a general sessions of the peace for the District of Chester, with the same powers as if it were a separate county. In 1879, the two districts were incorporated as district municipalities.

## Governance

Today the county has no legal status, although its borders are coincident with the five municipalities contained within it:
* the municipality of the District of Chester
* the municipality of the District of Lunenburg
* the town of Bridgewater
* the town of Lunenburg
* the town of Mahone Bay
The above municipalities comprise the entire territory of the county.
There are three Sipekneꞌkatik First Nation reserves in the county:
* Gold River 21
* New Ross 20
* Pennal 19

## Demographics

As a census division in the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Lunenburg County had a population of 48,599 living in 22,443 of its 27,092 total private dwellings, a change of 3.1% from its 2016 population of 47,126. With a land area of 2,906.47 km$^2$ (1,122.19 sq mi), it had a population density of 16.7/km$^2$ (43.3/sq mi) in 2021.
| Census | Population | Change (%) |
| 1871 | 23,834 | N/A |
| 1881 | 28,583 | 19.93% |
| 1891 | 31,075 | 8.72% |
| 1901 | 32,389 | 4.23% |
| 1911 | 33,260 | 2.69% |
| 1921 | 33,742 | 1.45% |
| 1931 | 31,674 | 6.13% |
| 1941 | 32,942 | 1.45% |
| 1981 | 45,746 | N/A |
| 1986 | 46,483 | 2.5% |
| 1991 | 47,634 | 4.1% |
| 1996 | 47,561 | 0.2% |
| 2001 | 47,591 | 0.1% |
| 2006 | 47,150 | 0.9% |
| 2011 | 47,313 | 0.3% |
| 2016 | 47,126 | 0.4% |
| 2021 | 48,599 | 3.1% |
| Language | Population | Pct (%) |
| English only | 45,305 | 96.83% |
| French only | 525 | 1.12% |
| Non-official languages | 805 | 1.72% |
| Multiple responses | 150 | 0.32% |
| Ethnic Origin | Population | Pct (%) |
| Canadian | 19,265 | 41.3% |
| German | 16,290 | 34.9% |
| English | 13,405 | 28.8% |
| Scottish | 8,655 | 18.6% |
| French | 6,360 | 13.6% |
| Irish | 6,155 | 13.2% |
| Dutch (Netherlands) | 3,105 | 6.7% |
| North American Indian | 1,930 | 4.1% |
| Welsh | 1,000 | 2.1% |
| Religion | Population | Pct (%) |
| Protestant | 34,220 | 72.80% |
| No religious affiliation | 6,810 | 14.49% |
| Catholic | 5,230 | 11.13% |
| Christian n.i.e. | 535 | 1.14% |
| Muslim | 80 | 0.17% |
| Jewish | 70 | 0.15% |
| Christian Orthodox | 20 | 0.04% |
| Hindu | 20 | 0.04% |
| Buddhist | 15 | 0.03% |
| Other religions | 10 | 0.02% |

## Access routes

Highways and numbered routes that run through the county, including external routes that start or finish at the county boundary: