Archived Content

Information identified as archived is provided for reference, research or recordkeeping purposes. It is not subject to the Government of Canada Web Standards and has not been altered or updated since it was archived. Please contact us to request a format other than those available.

Focus on Geography Series, 2011 Census

Census subdivision of New Westminster, CY - British Columbia ¹

Map of New Westminster, CY

Interactive version of map

Population, 2011 and 2006 censuses

Chart A description: New Westminster, CY - Population, 2011 and 2006 censuses

Prov. rank

Nat. rank

In 2011, New Westminster (City) had a population of 65,976, representing a percentage change of 12.7% from 2006. This compares to the national average growth of 5.9%.

Land area is 15.63 square kilometres with a population density of 4,222.2 persons per square kilometre. This compares to the provincial land area of 922,509.29 square kilometres with a population density of 4.8 persons per square kilometre.

In 2011, New Westminster (City) had 30,586 private dwellings occupied by usual residents. The change in private dwellings occupied by usual residents from 2006 was 13.1%. For Canada as a whole, the number of private dwellings occupied by usual residents increased 7.1%.

New Westminster (City) is part of the census metropolitan area of Vancouver (British Columbia).

Population and dwelling counts

New Westminster (City) – Neighbouring census subdivisions

Table 1 New Westminster (City) – Neighbouring census subdivisions, population change, 2006 to 2011
Census subdivision (CSD) name	CSD type	Population
Census subdivision (CSD) name	CSD type	2011	2006	% change
Surrey, B.C.	CY	468,251	394,976	18.6
Delta, B.C.	DM	99,863	96,635 A	3.3
Richmond, B.C.	CY	190,473	174,461	9.2
Burnaby, B.C.	CY	223,218	202,799	10.1
Coquitlam, B.C.	CY	126,456	114,565	10.4

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

Table 2 British Columbia – 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
Langford	CY	29,228	22,459	30.1
Lake Country	DM	11,708	9,606	21.9
Port Moody	CY	32,975	27,512	19.9
Kent	DM	5,664	4,738 E	19.5
Surrey	CY	468,251	394,976	18.6

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

Table 3 British Columbia – 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
Kitimat	DM	8,335	8,987	-7.3
Peace River D	RDA	5,479	5,749	-4.7
Esquimalt	DM	16,209	16,840	-3.7
Hope	DM	5,969	6,185	-3.5
Okanagan-Similkameen D	RDA	5,717	5,913	-3.3

Age and sex

New Westminster, CY – Age distribution

Chart C: New Westminster, CY - Population by broad age groups

Chart C description: New Westminster, CY - Population by broad age groups

Table 4 New Westminster, CY – Age distributions by broad age groups and sex, 2011 Census
Age groups	Both sexes	Males	Females
0 to 14	13.1%	13.6%	12.5%
15 to 64	73.6%	75.0%	72.2%
65 and over	13.4%	11.4%	15.3%

In 2011, the percentage of the population aged 65 and over in New Westminster, CY was 13.4%, compared with a national percentage of 14.8%. The percentage of the working age population (15 to 64) was 73.6% and the percentage of children aged 0 to 14 was 13.1%. 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.

New Westminster, CY – Population by broad age groups and sex

Table 5 New Westminster, CY – 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	65,975	58,550	7,425	12.7
0 to 14	8,615	8,395	220	2.6
15 to 64	48,525	42,210	6,315	15.0
65 and over	8,840	7,945	895	11.3
Males
Total	32,360	28,485	3,875	13.6
0 to 14	4,415	4,315	100	2.3
15 to 64	24,255	20,960	3,295	15.7
65 and over	3,695	3,205	490	15.3
Females
Total	33,620	30,070	3,550	11.8
0 to 14	4,200	4,075	125	3.1
15 to 64	24,270	21,250	3,020	14.2
65 and over	5,145	4,740	405	8.5

New Westminster, CY – Population by five-year age groups and sex

Chart D description: New Westminster, CY - Population by five-year age groups and sex

Table 6 New Westminster, CY – Population by five-year age groups and sex, 2011 Census
Age groups	Both sexes	Males	Females
Total - Age groups	65,975	32,360	33,620
0 to 4 years	3,260	1,670	1,585
5 to 9 years	2,655	1,340	1,310
10 to 14 years	2,700	1,400	1,300
15 to 19 years	3,180	1,665	1,515
20 to 24 years	4,295	2,100	2,195
25 to 29 years	5,315	2,680	2,635
30 to 34 years	5,215	2,595	2,620
35 to 39 years	4,915	2,435	2,480
40 to 44 years	5,570	2,820	2,750
45 to 49 years	5,810	2,910	2,900
50 to 54 years	5,560	2,720	2,840
55 to 59 years	4,725	2,390	2,335
60 to 64 years	3,940	1,940	1,995
65 to 69 years	2,660	1,260	1,405
70 to 74 years	1,875	900	975
75 to 79 years	1,560	655	900
80 to 84 years	1,325	530	795
85 years and over	1,425	345	1,080
Median age	41.2	40.5	42.1

New Westminster, CY – Median age² of the population

Chart E: Canada, British Columbia and New Westminster, CY - Median age, 2006 and 2011 censuses

Chart E description: Canada, British Columbia and New Westminster, CY - Median age, 2006 and 2011 censuses

In 2011, the median age in New Westminster, CY was 41.2 years. In comparison, the median age of British Columbia was 41.9 years.

Table 7 Canada, British Columbia and New Westminster, CY – Median age, 2006 and 2011 censuses
	Median age
	2006	2011
Canada	39.5	40.6
British Columbia	40.8	41.9
New Westminster, CY	40.6	41.2

Families and households

In 2011, the number of census families³ in New Westminster was 17,290, which represents a change of 10.9% from 2006. This compares to a growth rate for Canada of 5.5% over the same period.

In New Westminster, 67.9% of census families were married couples in 2011, while 16.2% were common-law-couples and 15.9% were lone-parent families.

Chart F: New Westminster - Census families by family structure

Chart F description: New Westminster - Census families by family structure

New Westminster – Family structure

Table 8 Canada, British Columbia, CSD of New Westminster, CY 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
British Columbia †	1,238,155	887,990	71.7	160,360	13.0	189,805	15.3	6.6
New Westminster, CY	17,290	11,740	67.9	2,795	16.2	2,755	15.9	10.9
Surrey, CY	131,065	101,155	77.2	10,380	7.9	19,530	14.9	17.3
Delta, DM	29,080	23,020	79.2	2,420	8.3	3,645	12.5	4.0
Richmond, CY	55,400	43,270	78.1	3,210	5.8	8,920	16.1	10.3
Burnaby, CY	61,365	45,795	74.6	5,620	9.2	9,950	16.2	9.5
Coquitlam, CY	35,880	27,345	76.2	2,990	8.3	5,545	15.5	11.5

New Westminster – Presence of children within couple families

Among couples (married and common-law) in the census subdivision of New Westminster, 43.1% 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 *	5,690
Married couples without children *	6,050
Common-law-couples with children *	580
Common-law-couples without children *	2,215

New Westminster – Marital status

Chart H description: New Westminster - Marital status

In New Westminster, 52.1% of the total population aged 15 and over were either married (42.4%) or living with a common-law partner (9.7%).

The remaining 47.9% 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, British Columbia, New Westminster, CY – Population 15 years and older by marital status, 2011 Census
Marital status	New Westminster, CY		British Columbia		Canada
Marital status	number	%	number	%	number	%
Total - Population 15 years and over	57,360	100.0	3,722,690	100.0	27,869,345	100.0
Married or living with a common-law partner	29,895	52.1	2,154,575	57.9	16,084,490	57.7
Married (and not separated)	24,305	42.4	1,832,605	49.2	12,941,965	46.4
Living common-law	5,590	9.7	321,965	8.6	3,142,525	11.3
Not married and not living with a common-law partner	27,465	47.9	1,568,120	42.1	11,784,855	42.3
Single (never legally married)	17,450	30.4	1,014,270	27.2	7,816,045	28.0
Separated	1,915	3.3	102,035	2.7	698,245	2.5
Divorced	5,010	8.7	246,515	6.6	1,686,035	6.0
Widowed	3,085	5.4	205,300	5.5	1,584,525	5.7

New Westminster – Types of private households

There were 30,585 private households⁴ in New Westminster in 2011, a change of 13.1% from 2006. Of these, 19.1% of households were comprised of couples with children aged 24 and under at home, a change of 8.2% compared with five years earlier.

Table 10 Canada, British Columbia, New Westminster, CY – Distribution of households by household type, 2011 Census
Household type⁵	New Westminster, CY		British Columbia		Canada
Household type⁵	number	%	number	%	number	%
Total private households	30,585	100.0	1,764,635	100.0	13,320,615	100.0
Couple-family households with children aged 24 and under at home⁶	5,840	19.1	431,135	24.4	3,524,915	26.5
Couple-family households without children aged 24 and under at home⁷	7,625	24.9	532,995	30.2	3,935,540	29.5
Lone-parent family households⁸	2,510	8.2	168,530	9.6	1,375,450	10.3
One-person households	12,115	39.6	498,925	28.3	3,673,310	27.6
Multiple family households⁹	630	2.1	50,410	2.9	268,060	2.0
Other households¹⁰	1,865	6.1	82,640	4.7	543,340	4.1

New Westminster – Structural type of dwelling

In New Westminster, 18.2% of private households lived in single-detached houses and 30.5% lived in apartments in buildings that have five or more storeys. The rest lived in other types of dwelling structures.

Table 11 Canada, British Columbia, New Westminster, CY – Distribution of private households by structural type of dwelling, 2011 Census
Structural type of dwelling	New Westminster, CY		British Columbia		Canada
Structural type of dwelling	number	%	number	%	number	%
Total - Structural type of dwelling	30,590	100.0	1,764,640	100.0	13,320,615	100.0
Single-detached house	5,580	18.2	842,120	47.7	7,329,150	55.0
Semi-detached house	115	0.4	52,825	3.0	646,240	4.9
Row house	1,260	4.1	130,370	7.4	791,600	5.9
Apartment, building that has five or more storeys	9,315	30.5	143,970	8.2	1,234,770	9.3
Apartment, building that has fewer than five storeys	11,365	37.2	361,150	20.5	2,397,555	18.0
Apartment, duplex	2,870	9.4	184,355	10.4	704,485	5.3
Other single-attached house¹¹	50	0.2	2,885	0.2	33,310	0.3
Movable dwelling¹²	25	0.1	46,960	2.7	183,510	1.4

Language

New Westminster, CY – Mother tongue

Chart J description: New Westminster, CY - 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 New Westminster, 63.2% of the population reported English only as mother tongue, 1.3% reported French only, and 32.8% reported a non-official language only, in 2011. In comparison, the provincial / territorial percentages were 70.3% for English only, 1.3% for French only and 26.5% for only non-official languages.

In 2011, 76.4% of the population spoke only English most often at home, 0.3% spoke only French and 17.8% spoke only a non-official language. In comparison, the provincial / territorial percentages were 80.5% for only English, 0.4% for only French and 15.4% for only a non-official language.

Table 12 New Westminster, CY – 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	65,165	100.0	65,165	100.0
English	41,210	63.2	49,785	76.4
French	845	1.3	215	0.3
Non-official language	21,360	32.8	11,590	17.8
Multiple responses	1,750	2.7	3,575	5.5

Table 13 New Westminster, CY – 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	99.5	98.8	0.7
French	48.1	24.8	23.4
Non-official language	81.8	60.2	21.6

New Westminster, CY – Non-official languages

In New Westminster, the three most common mother tongues were Tagalog (Pilipino, Filipino) (4.7%), Panjabi (Punjabi) (4.2%) and Mandarin (2.6%), in 2011. In comparison, the most common mother tongues at the provincial / territorial level were Panjabi (Punjabi) (4.5%), Cantonese (3.2%) and Chinese, n.o.s. (2.9%).

Table 14 New Westminster, CY – 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.
Tagalog (Pilipino, Filipino)	3,050	13.3	4.7
Panjabi (Punjabi)	2,730	11.9	4.2
Mandarin	1,685	7.3	2.6
Chinese, n.o.s.	1,520	6.6	2.3
Spanish	1,175	5.1	1.8

New Westminster, CY – Bilingualism

Table 15 New Westminster, CY – 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	7.8	7.5	86.4	5.2
0 to 19	11.6	12.4	80.0	8.5
20 to 44	8.8	9.0	93.3	5.7
45 to 64	5.9	4.9	85.5	4.0
65 and over	4.2	2.4	76.3	2.6

Table 16 New Westminster, CY – Knowledge of official languages, 2011 Census
Knowledge of official languages	Number	Percentage
Total	65,170	100.0
English only	58,320	89.5
French only	40	0.1
English and French	5,165	7.9
Neither English nor French	1,640	2.5

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

New Westminster CY (British Columbia) – 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 New Westminster, City - British Columbia
2011 Census Highlight tables – Census subdivision of New Westminster, City - British Columbia
2011 Census Data Navigator – Census subdivision of New Westminster, City - British Columbia
2011 NHS Focus on Geography Series – Census subdivision of New Westminster, City - British Columbia

Report a problem on this page

Is something not working? Is there information outdated? Can't find what you're looking for?

Please contact us and let us know how we can help you.

Privacy notice

Date modified:: 2019-03-27

Language selection

Search and menus

Search

Archived Content

Focus on Geography Series, 2011 Census