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Focus on Geography Series, 2011 Census

Census subdivision of Merritt, CY - British Columbia ¹

Map of Merritt, CY

Interactive version of map

Population, 2011 and 2006 censuses

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

Prov. rank

Nat. rank

532

In 2011, Merritt (City) had a population of 7,113, representing a percentage change of 1.6% from 2006. This compares to the national average growth of 5.9%.

Land area is 24.82 square kilometres with a population density of 286.6 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, Merritt (City) had 2,903 private dwellings occupied by usual residents. The change in private dwellings occupied by usual residents from 2006 was 3.2%. For Canada as a whole, the number of private dwellings occupied by usual residents increased 7.1%.

Population and dwelling counts

Merritt (City) – Neighbouring census subdivisions

Table 1 Merritt (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
Thompson-Nicola M, B.C.	RDA	1,823	1,797	1.4
Thompson-Nicola N, B.C.	RDA	749	839	-10.7
Joeyaska 2, B.C.	IRI	44	44	0.0

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

Merritt, CY – Age distribution

Chart C: Merritt, CY - Population by broad age groups

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

Table 4 Merritt, CY – Age distributions by broad age groups and sex, 2011 Census
Age groups	Both sexes	Males	Females
0 to 14	17.3%	18.8%	15.9%
15 to 64	63.5%	63.1%	64.1%
65 and over	19.1%	18.3%	19.9%

In 2011, the percentage of the population aged 65 and over in Merritt, CY was 19.1%, compared with a national percentage of 14.8%. The percentage of the working age population (15 to 64) was 63.5% and the percentage of children aged 0 to 14 was 17.3%. 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.

Merritt, CY – Population by broad age groups and sex

Table 5 Merritt, 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	7,115	6,995	120	1.7
0 to 14	1,230	1,325	-95	-7.2
15 to 64	4,520	4,535	-15	-0.3
65 and over	1,360	1,135	225	19.8
Males
Total	3,505	3,425	80	2.3
0 to 14	660	685	-25	-3.6
15 to 64	2,210	2,185	25	1.1
65 and over	640	550	90	16.4
Females
Total	3,610	3,580	30	0.8
0 to 14	575	640	-65	-10.2
15 to 64	2,315	2,350	-35	-1.5
65 and over	720	585	135	23.1

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

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

Table 6 Merritt, CY – Population by five-year age groups and sex, 2011 Census
Age groups	Both sexes	Males	Females
Total - Age groups	7,115	3,505	3,610
0 to 4 years	390	215	170
5 to 9 years	415	215	200
10 to 14 years	425	220	205
15 to 19 years	520	265	255
20 to 24 years	330	185	145
25 to 29 years	340	155	185
30 to 34 years	350	160	190
35 to 39 years	400	195	205
40 to 44 years	480	235	250
45 to 49 years	510	230	280
50 to 54 years	550	270	280
55 to 59 years	535	265	265
60 to 64 years	515	245	260
65 to 69 years	420	195	225
70 to 74 years	350	175	170
75 to 79 years	250	125	120
80 to 84 years	180	80	95
85 years and over	170	60	110
Median age	43.9	42.7	45.1

Merritt, CY – Median age² of the population

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

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

In 2011, the median age in Merritt, CY was 43.9 years. In comparison, the median age of British Columbia was 41.9 years.

Table 7 Canada, British Columbia and Merritt, CY – Median age, 2006 and 2011 censuses
	Median age
	2006	2011
Canada	39.5	40.6
British Columbia	40.8	41.9
Merritt, CY	42.2	43.9

Families and households

In 2011, the number of census families³ in Merritt was 2,030, which represents a change of -1.0% from 2006. This compares to a growth rate for Canada of 5.5% over the same period.

In Merritt, 63.8% of census families were married couples in 2011, while 16.5% were common-law-couples and 19.5% were lone-parent families.

Chart F: Merritt - Census families by family structure

Chart F description: Merritt - Census families by family structure

Merritt – Family structure

Table 8 Canada, British Columbia, CSD of Merritt, 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
Merritt, CY	2,030	1,295	63.8	335	16.5	395	19.5	-1.0
Thompson-Nicola M, RDA	590	435	73.7	90	15.3	65	11.0	6.3
Thompson-Nicola N, RDA	260	215	82.7	25	9.6	15	5.8	-5.5
Joeyaska 2, IRI	10	5	50.0	5	50.0	0	0.0	0.0

Merritt – Presence of children within couple families

Among couples (married and common-law) in the census subdivision of Merritt, 39.6% 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 *	490
Married couples without children *	805
Common-law-couples with children *	150
Common-law-couples without children *	185

Merritt – Marital status

Chart H description: Merritt - Marital status

In Merritt, 56.8% of the total population aged 15 and over were either married (45.2%) or living with a common-law partner (11.6%).

The remaining 43.2% 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, Merritt, CY – Population 15 years and older by marital status, 2011 Census
Marital status	Merritt, CY		British Columbia		Canada
Marital status	number	%	number	%	number	%
Total - Population 15 years and over	5,880	100.0	3,722,690	100.0	27,869,345	100.0
Married or living with a common-law partner	3,340	56.8	2,154,575	57.9	16,084,490	57.7
Married (and not separated)	2,655	45.2	1,832,605	49.2	12,941,965	46.4
Living common-law	685	11.6	321,965	8.6	3,142,525	11.3
Not married and not living with a common-law partner	2,540	43.2	1,568,120	42.1	11,784,855	42.3
Single (never legally married)	1,320	22.4	1,014,270	27.2	7,816,045	28.0
Separated	235	4.0	102,035	2.7	698,245	2.5
Divorced	500	8.5	246,515	6.6	1,686,035	6.0
Widowed	485	8.2	205,300	5.5	1,584,525	5.7

Merritt – Types of private households

There were 2,900 private households⁴ in Merritt in 2011, a change of 2.7% from 2006. Of these, 21.4% of households were comprised of couples with children aged 24 and under at home, a change of -7.5% compared with five years earlier.

Table 10 Canada, British Columbia, Merritt, CY – Distribution of households by household type, 2011 Census
Household type⁵	Merritt, CY		British Columbia		Canada
Household type⁵	number	%	number	%	number	%
Total private households	2,900	100.0	1,764,635	100.0	13,320,615	100.0
Couple-family households with children aged 24 and under at home⁶	620	21.4	431,135	24.4	3,524,915	26.5
Couple-family households without children aged 24 and under at home⁷	935	32.2	532,995	30.2	3,935,540	29.5
Lone-parent family households⁸	360	12.4	168,530	9.6	1,375,450	10.3
One-person households	805	27.8	498,925	28.3	3,673,310	27.6
Multiple family households⁹	55	1.9	50,410	2.9	268,060	2.0
Other households¹⁰	130	4.5	82,640	4.7	543,340	4.1

Merritt – Structural type of dwelling

In Merritt, 64.8% of private households lived in single-detached houses and 0.0% 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, Merritt, CY – Distribution of private households by structural type of dwelling, 2011 Census
Structural type of dwelling	Merritt, CY		British Columbia		Canada
Structural type of dwelling	number	%	number	%	number	%
Total - Structural type of dwelling	2,900	100.0	1,764,640	100.0	13,320,615	100.0
Single-detached house	1,880	64.8	842,120	47.7	7,329,150	55.0
Semi-detached house	230	7.9	52,825	3.0	646,240	4.9
Row house	215	7.4	130,370	7.4	791,600	5.9
Apartment, building that has five or more storeys	0	0.0	143,970	8.2	1,234,770	9.3
Apartment, building that has fewer than five storeys	290	10.0	361,150	20.5	2,397,555	18.0
Apartment, duplex	20	0.7	184,355	10.4	704,485	5.3
Other single-attached house¹¹	0	0.0	2,885	0.2	33,310	0.3
Movable dwelling¹²	265	9.1	46,960	2.7	183,510	1.4

Language

Merritt, CY – Mother tongue

Chart J description: Merritt, 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 Merritt, 87.4% of the population reported English only as mother tongue, 1.7% reported French only, and 9.8% 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, 94.0% of the population spoke only English most often at home, 0.4% spoke only French and 4.3% 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 Merritt, 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	7,020	100.0	7,020	100.0
English	6,135	87.4	6,600	94.0
French	120	1.7	25	0.4
Non-official language	685	9.8	300	4.3
Multiple responses	85	1.2	95	1.4

Table 13 Merritt, 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	99.6	99.5	0.1
French	40.7	18.5	22.2
Non-official language	66.9	46.4	20.5

Merritt, CY – Non-official languages

In Merritt, the three most common mother tongues were Panjabi (Punjabi) (4.3%), German (1.4%) and Dutch (0.6%), 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 Merritt, 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.
Panjabi (Punjabi)	300	39.7	4.3
German	100	13.2	1.4
Dutch	45	6.0	0.6
Thompson (Ntlakapamux)	40	5.3	0.6
Italian	35	4.6	0.5

Merritt, CY – Bilingualism

Table 15 Merritt, 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	6.1	5.1	79.2	2.9
0 to 19	11.0	11.0	0.0	5.6
20 to 44	5.3	4.7	100.0	3.6
45 to 64	3.4	2.2	62.5	2.1
65 and over	5.6	2.0	75.0	2.4

Table 16 Merritt, CY – Knowledge of official languages, 2011 Census
Knowledge of official languages	Number	Percentage
Total	7,020	100.0
English only	6,530	93.0
French only	0	0.0
English and French	440	6.3
Neither English nor French	45	0.6

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

Merritt 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%.

In 2006, the population and/or dwelling counts for this census subdivision were found to be incorrect. Since it is not possible to make changes to the 2006 Census data presented in these tables, the 2006 data should be used with caution. For further details, please refer to the Population and dwelling count amendments, 2011 Census.

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 Merritt, City - British Columbia
2011 Census Highlight tables – Census subdivision of Merritt, City - British Columbia
2011 Census Data Navigator – Census subdivision of Merritt, City - British Columbia
2011 NHS Focus on Geography Series – Census subdivision of Merritt, City - British Columbia

Date modified:: 2019-03-27

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Focus on Geography Series, 2011 Census