Demographics

Historical populations Year Pop.   ±%   1971 156,070 —     1981 315,056 +101.9% 1991 463,388 +47.1% 1996 544,382 +17.5% 2001 612,925 +12.6% 2006 668,549 +9.1% 2011 713,443 +6.7% Canada 2006 Census Population  % of Total Population Ethnicity group Source: White 336,750 50.6 South Asian 134,750 20.2 Chinese 46,125 6.9 Black 41,365 6.2 Filipino 30,705 4.6 Arab 16,785 2.5 Southeast Asian 14,160 2.1 Latin American 12,410 1.9 Mixed visible minority 9,100 1.4 Korean 6,865 1.0 West Asian 6,015 0.9 Other visible minority 5,720 0.9 Japanese 2,425 0.4 First Nations 1,590 0.2 Métis 755 0.1 Total population 665,655 100

Mississauga is a fast-growing and multicultural city. Statistics Canada estimates that Mississauga now has 734,000 people, an increase of 150,000 from the previous decade and the population has roughly doubled in past twenty-five years. Mississauga is now the third most populous city on the Great Lakes; far smaller than Chicago and Toronto, but recently surpassing the cities proper of Detroit, Milwaukee, and Cleveland.

About 44% of the population speaks a language other than English, and 49% of the population are members of a visible minority (non-white or non-aboriginal). 21.29% of the population is under 14 years of age, compared to those of retirement age; 8.51%. The median (middle) age in Mississauga is 35.0.

Christianity is the majority faith of the city. The 2001 census indicated that 69.78% of the population adhere to Christianity, with Catholics constituting 42.00%, while the remaining 27.78% adhere to various Protestant, and Orthodox Christian groups. Other practiced faiths were Islam (6.83%), Hinduism (4.73%) Sikhism (3.82%), Buddhism, and Judaism.

Languages

The 2011 census found that English was spoken as single mother tongue by 47.6% of the population. The next most common languages were Urdu (4.9%), Polish (4.1%), Punjabi (3.2%), Arabic (3.1%), Tagalog (2.8%), and Portuguese (2.5%).

Mother tongue Population Percentage English 338,280 47.6% French 7,400 1.0% English and French 1,585 0.2% English and a non-official language 27,335 3.8% French and a non-official language 975 0.1% English, French and a non-official language 845 0.1% Urdu 34,925 4.9% Polish 29,065 4.1% Panjabi (Punjabi) 22,880 3.2% Arabic 21,990 3.1% Tagalog (Pilipino, Filipino) 19,920 2.8% Portuguese 17,685 2.5% Spanish 15,885 2.2% Chinese, not otherwise specified 15,745 2.2% Italian 14,210 2.0% Cantonese 11,925 1.7% Mandarin 11,335 1.6% Tamil 10,230 1.4% Vietnamese 9,835 1.4% Hindi 9,250 1.3% Gujarati 8,010 1.1% Ukrainian 5,955 0.8% Mother tongue Population Percentage Croatian 5,500 0.8% Korean 5,300 0.7% Persian (Farsi) 5,245 0.7% Russian 4,645 0.7% Serbian 3,830 0.5% German 3,705 0.5% Bengali 3,305 0.5% Romanian 3,075 0.4% Greek 2,700 0.4% Albanian 2,215 0.3% Malayalam 2,145 0.3% Hungarian 1,870 0.3% Telugu 1,515 0.2% Sinhala (Sinhalese) 1,310 0.2% Macedonian 1,255 0.2% Turkish 1,225 0.2% Bosnian 1,130 0.2% Bulgarian 1,120 0.2% Malay 1,090 0.2% Marathi 1,065 0.1% Pashto 1,010 0.1% Sindhi 1,000 0.1%