Demographics. A street sign on College Street in Toronto's Little Italy.

A street sign on College Street in Toronto's Little Italy.

The last complete census by Statistics Canada estimated there were 2,481,494 people residing in Toronto in 2001. The city's population grew by 4 percent between 1996 and 2001, at an annualized rate of 0.8 percent. Persons aged 14 years and under made up 17.5 percent of the population, and those aged 65 years and over made up 13.6 percent. The median age of the population was 36.9 years. As of July 1, 2006, the population is estimated at 2,629,030.

With a long history as a major destination for immigrants to Canada, Toronto is one of the world's most multicultural cities. As of 2001, more than 40 percent of the city's residents belong to a visible minority group, and visible minorities are projected to comprise a majority in Toronto by 2017. According to the United Nations Development Programme, Toronto has the second-highest percentage of foreign-born population among world cities, after Miami, Florida. While Miami's foreign-born population consists mostly of Cubans and other Latin Americans, no single nationality or culture dominates Toronto's immigrant population.

This diversity is reflected in Toronto's ethnic neighbourhoods, some of which include several Chinatowns, Little Italy, Little Jamaica, Little India, the downtown Chinatown, Koreatown, Malta Village, Greektown, Portugal Village, Corso Italia, Augusta Avenue and Little Mogadishu.

Christianity is the largest religious group in Toronto. The 2001 census reports that 31.4 percent of the city's population is Roman Catholic, followed by Protestants at 21.2 percent, Eastern Orthodox Christians at 4.9 percent and other Christians at 3.9 percent. Islam is the second largest religion in the city, with Muslims accounting for 6.7 percent of the population, while Judaism comprise 4.2 percent, Hinduism comprise 4.8 percent, Sikhism comprise 0.9 percent, Buddhism comprise 2.7 percent and other Eastern Religions comprise 0.2 percent. Another 18.9 percent of the population profess no faith.

While English is the predominant language spoken by Torontonians, a few other languages have considerable numbers of local speakers, including Italian, Chinese, Portuguese, Tamil, Persian, Spanish and Punjabi. After English, Italian is the second-most widely-spoken language used at work. As a result, the city's 9-1-1 emergency services are equipped to respond in multiple languages.

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