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Focus on Geography Series, 2011 Census

Census subdivision of Westlock County, MD - Alberta ¹

Map of Westlock County, MD

Interactive version of map

Population, 2011 and 2006 censuses

Chart A description: Westlock County, MD - Population, 2011 and 2006 censuses

Prov. rank

Nat. rank

493

In 2011, Westlock County (Municipal district) had a population of 7,644, representing a percentage change of 10.6% from 2006. This compares to the national average growth of 5.9%.

Land area is 3,170.71 square kilometres with a population density of 2.4 persons per square kilometre. This compares to the provincial land area of 640,081.87 square kilometres with a population density of 5.7 persons per square kilometre.

In 2011, Westlock County (Municipal district) had 2,696 private dwellings occupied by usual residents. The change in private dwellings occupied by usual residents from 2006 was 11.9%. For Canada as a whole, the number of private dwellings occupied by usual residents increased 7.1%.

Population and dwelling counts

Westlock County (Municipal district) – Neighbouring census subdivisions

Table 1 Westlock County (Municipal district) – Neighbouring census subdivisions, population change, 2006 to 2011
Census subdivision (CSD) name	CSD type	Population
Census subdivision (CSD) name	CSD type	2011	2006	% change
Sturgeon County, Alta.	MD	19,578	18,566 A	5.5
Barrhead County No. 11, Alta.	MD	6,096	5,845	4.3
Woodlands County, Alta.	MD	4,306	4,158	3.6
Westlock, Alta.	T	4,823	5,008	-3.7
Clyde, Alta.	VL	503	470	7.0
Larkspur, Alta.	SV	38	56	-32.1
Thorhild County No. 7, Alta.	MD	3,417	3,547 A	-3.7
Athabasca County, Alta.	MD	7,662	7,572 A E	1.2
Lesser Slave River No.124, Alta.	MD	2,929	2,820	3.9

Alberta – Census subdivisions with 5,000-plus population with the highest population growth

Table 2 Alberta – Census subdivisions with 5,000-plus population with the highest population growth, population change, 2006 to 2011
Census subdivision (CSD) name	CSD type	Population
Census subdivision (CSD) name	CSD type	2011	2006	% change
Chestermere	T	14,824	9,923 A	49.4
Beaumont	T	13,284	8,961	48.2
Airdrie	CY	42,564	28,927	47.1
Leduc	CY	24,279	16,967	43.1
Okotoks	T	24,511	17,150 A	42.9

Alberta – Census subdivisions with 5,000-plus population with the lowest population growth

Table 3 Alberta – Census subdivisions with 5,000-plus population with the lowest population growth, population change, 2006 to 2011
Census subdivision (CSD) name	CSD type	Population
Census subdivision (CSD) name	CSD type	2011	2006	% change
Lac la Biche County	MD	8,402	9,123 A	-7.9
Willow Creek No. 26	MD	5,107	5,337	-4.3
Crowsnest Pass	SM	5,565	5,749	-3.2
Greenview No. 16	MD	5,299	5,464	-3.0
Lethbridge County	MD	10,061	10,254 A	-1.9

Age and sex

Westlock County, MD – Age distribution

Chart C: Westlock County, MD - Population by broad age groups

Chart C description: Westlock County, MD - Population by broad age groups

Table 4 Westlock County, MD – Age distributions by broad age groups and sex, 2011 Census
Age groups	Both sexes	Males	Females
0 to 14	21.3%	20.7%	22.0%
15 to 64	63.8%	63.4%	64.1%
65 and over	14.8%	16.0%	13.8%

In 2011, the percentage of the population aged 65 and over in Westlock County, MD was 14.8%, compared with a national percentage of 14.8%. The percentage of the working age population (15 to 64) was 63.8% and the percentage of children aged 0 to 14 was 21.3%. In comparison, the national percentages were 68.5% for the population aged 15 to 64 and 16.7% for the population aged 0 to 14.

Westlock County, MD – Population by broad age groups and sex

Table 5 Westlock County, MD – Population by broad age groups, sex and population change between 2006 and 2011, 2006 to 2011 censuses
Broad age groups by sex	Population
Broad age groups by sex	2011	2006	change	% change
Both sexes
Total	7,645	6,910	735	10.6
0 to 14	1,630	1,535	95	6.2
15 to 64	4,875	4,490	385	8.6
65 and over	1,135	880	255	29.0
Males
Total	3,945	3,565	380	10.7
0 to 14	815	785	30	3.8
15 to 64	2,500	2,270	230	10.1
65 and over	630	510	120	23.5
Females
Total	3,700	3,345	355	10.6
0 to 14	815	750	65	8.7
15 to 64	2,370	2,225	145	6.5
65 and over	510	370	140	37.8

Westlock County, MD – Population by five-year age groups and sex

Chart D description: Westlock County, MD - Population by five-year age groups and sex

Table 6 Westlock County, MD – Population by five-year age groups and sex, 2011 Census
Age groups	Both sexes	Males	Females
Total - Age groups	7,645	3,945	3,700
0 to 4 years	480	250	230
5 to 9 years	580	285	290
10 to 14 years	575	285	295
15 to 19 years	505	275	235
20 to 24 years	325	170	155
25 to 29 years	350	195	155
30 to 34 years	435	205	235
35 to 39 years	440	225	215
40 to 44 years	490	255	230
45 to 49 years	550	265	285
50 to 54 years	615	315	305
55 to 59 years	610	320	290
60 to 64 years	560	285	270
65 to 69 years	440	220	220
70 to 74 years	315	175	140
75 to 79 years	220	130	90
80 to 84 years	110	75	40
85 years and over	55	30	25
Median age	41.4	41.9	40.8

Westlock County, MD – Median age² of the population

Chart E: Canada, Alberta and Westlock County, MD - Median age, 2006 and 2011 censuses

Chart E description: Canada, Alberta and Westlock County, MD - Median age, 2006 and 2011 censuses

In 2011, the median age in Westlock County, MD was 41.4 years. In comparison, the median age of Alberta was 36.5 years.

Table 7 Canada, Alberta and Westlock County, MD – Median age, 2006 and 2011 censuses
	Median age
	2006	2011
Canada	39.5	40.6
Alberta	36.0	36.5
Westlock County, MD	39.8	41.4

Families and households

In 2011, the number of census families³ in Westlock County was 2,215, which represents a change of 11.0% from 2006. This compares to a growth rate for Canada of 5.5% over the same period.

In Westlock County, 79.9% of census families were married couples in 2011, while 9.9% were common-law-couples and 10.2% were lone-parent families.

Chart F: Westlock County - Census families by family structure

Chart F description: Westlock County - Census families by family structure

Westlock County – Family structure

Table 8 Canada, Alberta, CSD of Westlock County, MD and neighbouring census subdivisions – Distribution of census families by family structure, 2011 Census
Geographic name	Total families	Married-couple families		Common-law-couple families		Lone-parent families		% change, census families, 2006 to 2011
Geographic name	Total families	number	%	number	%	number	%	% change, census families, 2006 to 2011
Canada †	9,389,695	6,293,950	67.0	1,567,905	16.7	1,527,840	16.3	5.5
Alberta †	999,525	719,355	72.0	135,660	13.6	144,510	14.5	10.5
Westlock County, MD	2,215	1,770	79.9	220	9.9	225	10.2	11.0
Sturgeon County, MD	5,740	4,725	82.3	590	10.3	425	7.4	7.8
Barrhead County No. 11, MD	1,800	1,550	86.1	130	7.2	115	6.4	6.8
Woodlands County, MD	1,320	1,015	76.9	190	14.4	120	9.1	4.8
Westlock, T	1,295	870	67.2	200	15.4	230	17.8	-4.4
Clyde, VL	140	90	64.3	35	25.0	20	14.3	7.7
Thorhild County No. 7, MD	1,045	770	73.7	155	14.8	120	11.5	-1.4
Athabasca County, MD	2,330	1,830	78.5	290	12.4	210	9.0	2.0
Lesser Slave River No.124, MD	895	680	76.0	155	17.3	60	6.7	10.5

Westlock County – Presence of children within couple families

Among couples (married and common-law) in the census subdivision of Westlock County, 41.5% were couples with children aged 24 and under at home. In comparison, as a whole, 46.9% of couples in Canada had children aged 24 and under at home.

Presence of children within couple families
* Children aged 24 and under at home
Married couples with children *	745
Married couples without children *	1,030
Common-law-couples with children *	85
Common-law-couples without children *	135

Westlock County – Marital status

Chart H description: Westlock County - Marital status

In Westlock County, 69.1% of the total population aged 15 and over were either married (61.8%) or living with a common-law partner (7.2%).

The remaining 30.9% were not married and not living with a common-law partner, including those who were single (never-married), separated, divorced or widowed.

Note: Percentages may not total 100 percent due to random rounding.

Table 9 Canada, Alberta, Westlock County, MD – Population 15 years and older by marital status, 2011 Census
Marital status	Westlock County, MD		Alberta		Canada
Marital status	number	%	number	%	number	%
Total - Population 15 years and over	6,015	100.0	2,960,470	100.0	27,869,345	100.0
Married or living with a common-law partner	4,155	69.1	1,756,860	59.3	16,084,490	57.7
Married (and not separated)	3,715	61.8	1,484,705	50.2	12,941,965	46.4
Living common-law	435	7.2	272,155	9.2	3,142,525	11.3
Not married and not living with a common-law partner	1,860	30.9	1,203,615	40.7	11,784,855	42.3
Single (never legally married)	1,225	20.4	823,935	27.8	7,816,045	28.0
Separated	130	2.2	70,855	2.4	698,245	2.5
Divorced	295	4.9	177,375	6.0	1,686,035	6.0
Widowed	205	3.4	131,440	4.4	1,584,525	5.7

Westlock County – Types of private households

There were 2,700 private households⁴ in Westlock County in 2011, a change of 12.3% from 2006. Of these, 30.2% of households were comprised of couples with children aged 24 and under at home, a change of -6.9% compared with five years earlier.

Table 10 Canada, Alberta, Westlock County, MD – Distribution of households by household type, 2011 Census
Household type⁵	Westlock County, MD		Alberta		Canada
Household type⁵	number	%	number	%	number	%
Total private households	2,700	100.0	1,390,275	100.0	13,320,615	100.0
Couple-family households with children aged 24 and under at home⁶	815	30.2	407,145	29.3	3,524,915	26.5
Couple-family households without children aged 24 and under at home⁷	1,130	41.9	406,380	29.2	3,935,540	29.5
Lone-parent family households⁸	195	7.2	128,330	9.2	1,375,450	10.3
One-person households	455	16.9	342,735	24.7	3,673,310	27.6
Multiple family households⁹	40	1.5	27,900	2.0	268,060	2.0
Other households¹⁰	65	2.4	77,785	5.6	543,340	4.1

Westlock County – Structural type of dwelling

In Westlock County, 88.1% of private households lived in single-detached houses and 0.2% lived in apartments in buildings that have five or more storeys. The rest lived in other types of dwelling structures.

Table 11 Canada, Alberta, Westlock County, MD – Distribution of private households by structural type of dwelling, 2011 Census
Structural type of dwelling	Westlock County, MD		Alberta		Canada
Structural type of dwelling	number	%	number	%	number	%
Total - Structural type of dwelling	2,695	100.0	1,390,275	100.0	13,320,615	100.0
Single-detached house	2,375	88.1	883,260	63.5	7,329,150	55.0
Semi-detached house	10	0.4	71,850	5.2	646,240	4.9
Row house	0	0.0	97,865	7.0	791,600	5.9
Apartment, building that has five or more storeys	5	0.2	58,205	4.2	1,234,770	9.3
Apartment, building that has fewer than five storeys	5	0.2	197,945	14.2	2,397,555	18.0
Apartment, duplex	5	0.2	33,505	2.4	704,485	5.3
Other single-attached house¹¹	5	0.2	1,060	0.1	33,310	0.3
Movable dwelling¹²	295	10.9	46,590	3.4	183,510	1.4

Language

Westlock County, MD – Mother tongue

Chart J description: Westlock County, MD - Mother tongue and language spoken most often at home

Note: Counts for mother tongue as well as those for language spoken most often at home include single responses only.

In Westlock County, 85.7% of the population reported English only as mother tongue, 3.3% reported French only, and 10.3% reported a non-official language only, in 2011. In comparison, the provincial / territorial percentages were 77.0% for English only, 1.9% for French only and 19.4% for only non-official languages.

In 2011, 93.5% of the population spoke only English most often at home, 0.5% spoke only French and 5.3% spoke only a non-official language. In comparison, the provincial / territorial percentages were 85.7% for only English, 0.7% for only French and 10.5% for only a non-official language.

Table 12 Westlock County, MD – Mother tongue and language spoken most often at home, 2011 Census
Selected languages	Mother tongue		Language spoken most often at home
Selected languages	number	%	number	%
Total	7,645	100.0	7,645	100.0
English	6,555	85.7	7,145	93.5
French	250	3.3	40	0.5
Non-official language	790	10.3	405	5.3
Multiple responses	50	0.7	50	0.7

Table 13 Westlock County, MD – Mother-tongue retention, 2011 Census
Mother tongue	Mother-tongue retention¹³ (in percentage)
Mother tongue	Total retention; language spoken at home at least on a regular basis	Complete retention; language spoken most often at home	Partial retention; language spoken at home on a regular basis
Note: Counts for mother tongue and home language include single response of a language as well as multiple responses of a language with English and/or French.
English	99.8	99.7	0.2
French	27.8	13.0	14.8
Non-official language	65.2	51.8	13.4

Westlock County, MD – Non-official languages

In Westlock County, the three most common mother tongues were German (6.6%), Dutch (1.1%) and Ukrainian (1.0%), in 2011. In comparison, the most common mother tongues at the provincial / territorial level were German (2.3%), Tagalog (Pilipino, Filipino) (1.9%) and Panjabi (Punjabi) (1.5%).

Table 14 Westlock County, MD – The most common non-official-language mother tongues, 2011 Census
Mother tongue	Number	Percentage of non-official language mother-tongue population	Percentage of total population
Note: Counts for mother tongue and home language include single response of a language as well as multiple responses of a language with English and/or French.
German	505	61.6	6.6
Dutch	85	10.4	1.1
Ukrainian	80	9.8	1.0
Polish	35	4.3	0.5
Spanish	35	4.3	0.5

Westlock County, MD – Bilingualism

Table 15 Westlock County, MD – Rate of English-French bilingualism by mother tongue and age groups, 2011 Census
Age groups	Mother tongue
Age groups	Total	English	French	Non-official language
Note: Counts for mother tongue include single responses only. Consequently, the total excludes multiple responses.
Total	5.5	3.3	70.6	2.5
0 to 19	6.1	5.9	50.0	0.0
20 to 44	3.9	3.1	80.0	2.4
45 to 64	5.6	1.5	76.0	2.3
65 and over	7.1	1.8	70.6	2.5

Table 16 Westlock County, MD – Knowledge of official languages, 2011 Census
Knowledge of official languages	Number	Percentage
Total	7,640	100.0
English only	7,175	93.9
French only	0	0.0
English and French	430	5.6
Neither English nor French	35	0.5

Symbols:

···: not applicable
†: excludes census data for one or more incompletely enumerated Indian reserves or Indian settlements. For further information, refer to Notes.
¶: incompletely enumerated Indian reserve or Indian settlement. For further information, refer to Notes.
A: adjusted figure due to boundary change. For further information, refer to Content considerations.
E: use with caution. For further information, refer to Cautionary note.

Footnotes

Footnote 1

Westlock County MD (Alberta) – This census subdivision has the following data quality indicators (commonly referred to as data quality flags):

Data quality index showing a global non response rate higher than or equal to 5% but lower than 10%.

Return to footnote 1 referrer

Footnote 2

Median age: Age 'x' that divides a population in two groups of the same population size, one group being older than age 'x' and the other group being younger than age 'x'.

Return to footnote 2 referrer

Footnote 3

Census family: Refers to a married couple (with or without children), a common-law couple (with or without children) or a lone parent family.

Return to footnote 3 referrer

Footnote 4

Household, private: Refers to a person or a group of persons (other than foreign residents) who occupy a private dwelling and do not have a usual place of residence elsewhere in Canada.

Return to footnote 4 referrer

Footnote 5

Household type: Refers to the basic division of private households into family and non-family households. Family household refers to a household that contains at least one census family, that is, a married couple with or without children, or a couple living in common-law with or without children or a lone parent living with one or more children.

Return to footnote 5 referrer

Footnote 6

Couple-family households with children: Refers to couple households with at least one child aged 24 and under.

Return to footnote 6 referrer

Footnote 7

Couple-family households without children: Refers to couple households without children aged 24 and under. Includes couple households with all children aged 25 and over.

Return to footnote 7 referrer

Footnote 8

Lone-parent-family households: Refers to all lone-parent family households regardless of age of children.

Return to footnote 8 referrer

Footnote 9

Multiple-family households: Refers to a household in which two or more census families (with or without additional persons) occupy the same private dwelling.

Return to footnote 9 referrer

Footnote 10

Other households: Refers to two or more people who share a private dwelling, but who do not constitute a census family.

Return to footnote 10 referrer

Footnote 11

Other single-attached house: A single dwelling that is attached to another building and that does not fall into any of the other categories, such as a single dwelling attached to a non-residential structure (e.g., a store or a church) or occasionally to another residential structure (e.g., an apartment building).

Return to footnote 11 referrer

Footnote 12

Movable dwelling includes mobile homes and other movable dwellings such as houseboats and railroad cars.

Return to footnote 12 referrer

Footnote 13

Mother-tongue retention: Retention refers to the situation where people speak their mother tongue at home. Retention is defined as 'complete' when the mother tongue is the language spoken most often and 'partial' when it is spoken on a regular basis but not most often. The (complete or partial) retention rate refers to the proportion of the population with a given mother tongue that speaks that language at home most often or on a regular basis. The retention rate provides an indication of a group's linguistic vitality, particularly the importance of transmitting languages between generations.

Return to footnote 13 referrer

Source:

Statistics Canada. 2012. Focus on Geography Series, 2011 Census. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 98-310-XWE2011004. Ottawa, Ontario. Analytical products, 2011 Census. Last updated October 24, 2012.

Related data:

2011 Census Topic-based tabulations – Census subdivision of Westlock County, Municipal district - Alberta
2011 Census Highlight tables – Census subdivision of Westlock County, Municipal district - Alberta
2011 Census Data Navigator – Census subdivision of Westlock County, Municipal district - Alberta
2011 NHS Focus on Geography Series – Census subdivision of Westlock County, Municipal district - Alberta

Date modified:: 2019-03-27

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Focus on Geography Series, 2011 Census