Winnipeg, Canada Population

Winnipeg is a city located in the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is the largest city in the province and is also the capital of the province. It is home to 819 thousand people in the urban area and 632 thousand people in the city area. The city is named after Lake Winnipeg, whose name comes from a Western Cree word meaning ‘muddy water’.

The area was a known trading center for indigenous people long before the arrival of the Europeans. Established in 1738, Winnipeg is the eighth-most populated municipality in Canada and is known as the “Gateway to the West”.

A large population of First Nations’ people

The demographics of Winnipeg show it to be a multicultural and multilingual city: typical of most large, Canadian cities. A large part of the city’s population descended from First Nations people, with almost 11% of Winnipeg’s population self-identifying. This is far beyond the national average of 4.3%. The strong presence of First Nations’ descendants plays heavily into the city’s makeup. The city has the largest population of urban and off-reserve First Nations people, with about 72,000 Indigenous people calling the city home.

Winnipeg also has a large Filipino population, with Tagalog being the second-most common mother tongue spoken in the city. About 5% of the city’s population speak Tagalog as a first language and 8.7% of the city’s total population are Filipino. The city’s Filipino population live mostly in the West End and North End of the city.

A booming downtown core

Downtown Winnipeg is the city’s financial and economic core. Centred on the intersection of Portage Avenue and Main Street, it covers 2.6 square kilometres and is the fastest growing, high-income neighbourhood out of all of Winnipeg’s 236 neighbourhoods. There are more than 72,000 people who work in the downtown core and over 40,000 students attend classes at the universities and colleges located there.

The downtown core of Winnipeg has also been undergoing major changes, with the past few decades seeing huge revitalization efforts. Since 1999, over $1.2 billion dollars CAD has been invested in revamping downtown Winnipeg.

An economic powerhouse

Winnipeg has one of Canada’s most diversified economies and it is considered an economic base for the province. Major employment sectors are in the trades (15.2%), manufacturing (9.8%), education (7.7%), and health care and social assistance (15.2%). The city of Winnipeg had 21,000 employers listed as of 2012 and, as of 2014 there were approximately 416,700 people working in Winnipeg and the surrounding areas.

Winnipeg’s economy is rated as the fourth largest in Canada, just behind three of other major cities (Toronto, Calgary, and Regina). Winnipeg’s economy continues to flourish, with a real GDP growth of 2 percent in 2014 and a decrease in unemployment n 2013—something that was not happening in most of Canada. The median income in Winnipeg is around $72,000.

Culture Capital

In 2010, Canadian Heritage named the city of Winnipeg the Culture Capital of Canada. The city is rife with national historic sites (26, to be exact) and The Forks alone attracts 4 million visitors per year. It has many attractions, including the ‘City’ television studio, the Manitoba Theatre for Young People, the Winnipeg International Children’s Festival, and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

The city’s multicultural roots have also led to a variation of dishes and cooking styles that have now become unique to Winnipeg. Combinations of First Nations, European and Asian cooking styles have led to the city being known for its unique confectionaries and hot-smoked fish. Some of the city’s most famous dishes include schmoo torte, which is a torte with layers of whipped cream, caramel and nuts and sponge or angel food cake, and wafer pie, a Graham cracker pie which dates back to the 19th or early 20th century.