Demographics of Nova Scotia

**Nova Scotia**  (Latin for _New Scotland_; ; ) is a Canadian province located on Canada's southeastern coast. It is the most populous province in the Atlantic Canada, and its capital, Halifax, is a major economic centre of the region.  Nova Scotia is the second smallest province in Canada, with an area of 55,284 km².  Its population of 1,072,545 (as of 2024) makes it the fourth least populous province of the country.

## Population

Nova Scotia is the seventh most populous province in Canada with an estimated 1,079,627 residents as of 2025. It accounts for 2.6 percent of the population of Canada.  The population density is approximately 20.4 persons/km².  Roughly 60% of the population live in rural parts of the province.

### Regional municipalities

Nova Scotia has four regional municipalities.
|Name|Population (2021)|Population (2016)|Change (%)|Area (km²)|Population density|||||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Cape Breton||||||||||||
|Halifax||||||||||||
|Queens||||||||||||
|West Hants||||||||||||
|align="center"|**Total regional municipalities**|align="center"|****|align="center"|****|align="center"|****|align="center"|****|align="center"|****|

### Towns

Nova Scotia has 25 towns.

### 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.

### Population of Nova Scotia since 1851

|Year|Population|% change|Rank*</tr>|5-year|10-year</tr>||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:right;"|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|1851|276,854|–|–|<big>3</big></tr>|1861|330,857|–|19.5</tr>|1871|387,800|–|17.2</tr>|1881|440,572|–|13.6</tr>|1891|450,396|–|2.2</tr>|1901|459,574|–|2.0</tr>|1911|492,338|–|7.1|4</tr>|1921|523,837|–|6.4|<big>7</big></tr>|1931|512,846|–|- 2.1</tr>|1941|577,962|–|12.7</tr>|1951|642,584|–|11.2</tr>|1956|694,717|8.1|–</tr>|1961|737,007|6.1|14.7</tr>|}|{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:right;"|
|1966|756,039|2.6|8.8|<big>7</big></tr>|1971|788,965|4.4|7.0</tr>|1976|828,570|5.0|9.6</tr>|1981|847,442|2.3|7.4</tr>|1986|873,175|3.0|5.4</tr>|1991|899,942|3.1|6.2</tr>|1996|909,282|1.0|4.1</tr>|2001|908,007|- 0.1|0.9</tr>|2006|913,462|0.6|0.5</tr>|2011|921,727|0.9|1.5</tr>|2016|923,598|0.2|1.1</tr>|2021|969,383|5.0|5.2</tr>|}||||||||

## Visible minorities and Indigenous people

|colspan=4|Visible minority and Indigenous population (Canada 2021 Census)||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|**European**|**809,995**|**84.7%**|||
|rowspan="12"|Visible minority group|South Asian|21,655|2.3%|
|Chinese|11,600|1.2%|||
|Black|28,220|3.0%|||
|Filipino|6,615|0.7%|||
|Arab|10,610|1.1%|||
|Latin American|2,915|0.3%|||
|Southeast Asian|2,400|0.3%|||
|West Asian|1,875|0.2%|||
|Korean|2,845|0.3%|||
|Japanese|985|0.1%|||
|Visible minority,|970|0.1%|||
|Multiple visible minorities|2,750|0.3%|||
|**Total visible minority population**|**93,430**|**9.8%**|||
|rowspan="5"|Indigenous group|First Nations (North American Indian)|28,050|2.9%|
|Métis|21,090|2.2%|||
|Inuk (Inuit)|1,100|0.1%|||
|Multiple Indigenous responses|885|0.1%|||
|Indigenous responses|1,300|0.1%|||
|**Total Indigenous population**|**52,430**|**5.5%**|||
|***Total population***|***955,855***|***100.0%***|||

## Languages

The 2021 Canadian census showed a population of 969,383.
Of the 941,105 singular responses to the census question concerning mother tongue the most commonly reported languages were:
|Ranking|Language|Population|Percentage|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1.|English|851,545|90.48%|
|2.|French|27,340|2.91%|
|3.|Arabic|7,960|0.85%|
|4.|Mandarin|6,730|0.72%|
|5.|Punjabi|4,550|0.48%|
|6.|Tagalog|3,240|0.34%|
|7.|Mi'kmaq|3,145|0.33%|
|8.|German|3,050|0.32%|
|9.|Spanish|2,680|0.28%|
|10.|Korean|2,340|0.25%|
|11.|Hindi|2,035|0.22%|
|12.|Malayalam|1,975|0.21%|
|13.|Russian|1,735|0.18%|
|14.|Persian|1,435|0.15%|
|15.|Dutch|1,395|0.15%|
|16.|Portuguese|1,305|0.14%|
|17.|Yue (Cantonese)|1,250|0.13%|
|18.|Gujarati|1,160|0.12%|
|19.|Urdu|965|0.10%|
|20.|Vietnamese|950|0.10%|
|21.|Bengali|890|0.09%|
|22.|Polish|870|0.09%|
|23.|Telugu|750|0.08%|
|24.|Italian|730|0.08%|
|25.|Greek|710|0.08%|
|26.|Serbo-Croatian|580|0.06%|
|27.|Tamil|555|0.06%|

### Immigration

The 2021 Canadian census counted a total of 71,570 immigrants living in Nova Scotia. They are 7.5 percent of the total population of Nova Scotia.
The most commonly reported origins for these immigrants were:

|rowspan="2"|Country of Birth|colspan="2"|2021|colspan="2"|2016|colspan="2"|2011|colspan="2"|2006|colspan="2"|2001|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|United Kingdom|11,930||11,270||11,000||11,660||10,800|||
|United States|7,570||7,375||8,275||7,960||8,065|||
|India|5,605||2,225||1,415||1,440||1,140|||
|Philippines|4,755||2,575||1,325||420||495|||
|China|4,320||2,830||1,710||1,740||1,025|||
|Syria|2,420||1,150||185||135||180|||
|Germany|2,375||2,600||2,385||2,850||2,455|||
|Nigeria|1,745||350||215||165||105|||
|Lebanon|1,565||1,365||1,590||1,265||1,460|||
|Netherlands|1,465||1,645||1,530||1,830||1,975|||

### Internal migration

A total of 101,035 people moved to Nova Scotia from other parts of Canada between 1996 and 2006 while 110,335 people moved in the opposite direction. These movements resulted in a net outmigration of 11,925 people to Alberta and 4,120 to Ontario; as well as a net influx of 4,690 people from Newfoundland and Labrador and 2,930 from New Brunswick. During this period there was a net outmigration of 835 francophones to Quebec and 340 to Alberta; and a net influx of 575 anglophones from Quebec and 145 francophones from New Brunswick. (All net inter-provincial movements of more than 500 persons and official minority movements of more than 100 persons are given.)

## Religion

|rowspan="2"|Religious group|colspan="2"|2021|colspan="2"|2011|colspan="2"|2001|colspan="2"|1991|colspan="2"|1981|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Christianity|556,115||690,460||780,530||815,815||800,325|||
|No religion|359,395||197,665||106,405||68,010||34,335|||
|Islam|14,715||8,505||3,545||1,435||790|||
|Hinduism|8,460||1,850||1,235||970||1,025|||
|Sikhism|4,735||390||270||330||275|||
|Buddhism|2,955||2,205||1,735||1,485||420|||
|Judaism|2,195||1,805||2,120||1,950||2,010|||
|Indigenous spirituality|1,090||570|||||||||
|Other|6,195||2,720||1,720||960||525|||

## Employment

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

## Income

|width="50%"|_By County_|width="50%"|_By Community_|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|align="center" width="50%"|{| class="wikitable sortable" align="left" width="100%"|||
|1|Halifax County|$62,049||
|2|Hants County|$60,186||
|3|Antigonish County|$57,577||
||Nova Scotia|$53,606||
|4|Inverness County|$53,194||
|5|Kings County|$51,850||
|6|Richmond County|$50,745||
|7|Colchester County|$50,568||
|8|Pictou County|$50,417||
|9|Lunenburg County|$48,154||
|10|Yarmouth County|$47,676||
|11|Victoria County|$47,413||
|12|Cape Breton County|$47,224||
|13|Queens County|$45,050||
|14|Shelburne County|$44,267||
|15|Cumberland County|$43,385||
|17|Annapolis County|$43,522||
|17|Digby County|$42,293||
|18|Guysborough County|$42,063||
|}|{| class="wikitable sortable" align="left" width="100%"|||
|1|Halifax Regional Municipality|$62,069||
|2|Port Hawkesbury|$61,013||
||Nova Scotia|$53,606||
|3|Stewiacke|$52,118||
|4|Mahone Bay|$49,158||
|5|Wolfville|$48,671||
|6|Hantsport|$48,584||
|7|Clark's Harbour|$48,102||
|8|Cape Breton Regional Municipality|$47,830||
|9|Stellarton|$46,307||
|10|Antigonish|$45,538||
|11|Kentville|$45,098||
|12|New Glasgow|$44,942||
|13|Westville|$44,647||
|14|Middleton|$44,048||
|15|Annapolis Royal|$43,956||
|16|Trenton|$42,535||
|17|Pictou|$41,905||
|18|Truro|$41,878||
|19|Windsor|$41,859||
|20|Amherst|$41,027||
|21|Bridgewater|$40,049||
|22|Berwick|$39,674||
|23|Lunenburg|$39,529||
|24|Bridgetown|$38,248||
|25|Oxford|$37,734||
|26|Springhill|$36,995||
|27|Mulgrave|$36,200||
|28|Canso|$35,574||
|29|Shelburne|$35,526||
|30|Yarmouth|$34,572||
|31|Lockeport|$33,854||
|32|Digby|$33,437||
|33|Parrsboro|$27,472||
|}||||