The latest round of population estimates were released this month and it reaffirmed what many of us already knew, Vancouver and Surrey are still the destination of choices for newcomers to the region. What is interesting is that those two cities couldn’t be more different and yet they both attract large amounts of people every year. In general BC’s annual population growth slowed to 0.96% for the year ending June 30, 2011 as an estimated increase in population of 43,674 persons. This brought the total up to 4,573,321 persons.
It should be noted that Surrey (although three times the land size of Vancouver) will not catch Vancouver in terms of population anytime in our life time. So here’s to hoping that the people of Surrey can finally stop with the the “we’ll be bigger than you” nonsense, after all they’ve been saying this since the 80’s and only added 8,000 more people than Vancouver over the last 5 years. Not exactly the kind of figures you need to catch up to Vancouver. Moreover, the number of people living somewhere doesn’t mean much. The vibe and feel of a place that suits you is what matters most. Some prefer the urban lifestyle, others the suburban lifestyle.
In the coming years, Burnaby is a city to look out for as they are planning a heavy density push around Metrotown and Brentwood with plenty of large towers.
Here is a list of the top ten Greater Vancouver municipalities:
Vancouver – 651,048
Surrey – 473,238
Burnaby – 229,464
Richmond – 197,631
Coquitlam – 127,785
Langley District – 105,747
Delta – 100,094
North Vancouver, District – 88,678
Maple Ridge – 77,402
New Westminster – 67,880
See the rest of the stats here.
Image: City of Vancouver
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