Closing in on half of New Westminster residents are now visible minorities, according to recently released census data — and those numbers are on an upward trend.
Statistics Canada data from the 2021 census shows that 46.8 per cent of New Westminster residents are now visible minorities — or 36,550 of 78,055 people. That's up substantially from 2016, when the visible minority population stood at just 38.9 per cent.
The largest groups among visible minority populations are Chinese (8,530), South Asian (8,105) and Filipino (6,775). Those were also the top three visible minority populations in 2016 — but all three groups have seen a sizeable increase since 2016, when their numbers stood at 7,020, 5,790 and 5,765, respectively.
The South Asian population, particularly, has seen a large increase. In 2016, the South Asian population accounted for 8.3 per cent of New Westminster residents; as of the 2021 census, it had jumped to 10.4 per cent.
The visible minority population has shifted somewhat over the past five years. A comparison between the past two census periods shows that East Asian populations — specifically, Japanese and Korean — now account for a smaller share of visible minority residents than they did five years ago, while Latin American residents make up a larger share.
We've broken the 2021 numbers down in the chart above (scroll over to check it out).
Visible minority population in New Westminster: Who's who?
Here's the list of visible minority populations in New Westminster, ranked by largest to smallest number. The ranking from 2016 is included in brackets.
- Chinese: 8,530 (1)
- South Asian: 8,105 (2)
- Filipino: 6,775 (3)
- Black: 2,695 (4)
- Latin American: 2,560 (6)
- Multiple visible minorities: 1,635 (8)
- Korean: 1,555 (5)
- Southeast Asian: 1,290 (9)
- West Asian: 1,135 (10)
- Japanese: 990 (7)
- Arab: 640 (11)
- Visible minority (not included elsewhere): 640 (12)
— data from Canada's 2021 Census of Population, Statistics Canada
