OTTAWA -- Some key numbers culled from the 2006 census on visible minorities, ethnic origins of the population and commuting, released Wednesday by Statistics Canada:
1 -- Ranking of Abbotsford, B.C., when it comes to the highest proportion of South Asians in any metropolitan area of Canada. At 16.3 per cent, its South Asian community was higher than Toronto (13.5) and Vancouver (9.9).
4.0 -- Percentage of the total Canadian population made up of South Asians, meaning people whose origins are from the Indian subcontinent now represent the single largest visible minority in Canada.
4.1 -- Percentage of the country's visible minority population that doesn't live in major urban areas.
10.4 -- Percentage of people in Victoria who walk to work, the highest proportion of foot soliders in any major Canadian city.
16.2 -- Percentage of the Canadian population that is a visible minority.
20 -- Percent increase, from 2001-2006, in the number of Canadians (195,500) who biked to work.
27.4 -- Percentage growth rate of the visible minority population between 2001 and 2006, compared to a 5.4 per cent increase for the population as a whole.
30.2 -- Percentage of visible minorities born in Canada.
52 -- Percentage of Canada's black population with Caribbean origins.
54.2 -- Percentage of Canada's visible minority population that lives in Ontario.
63.2 -- Percentage of Japanese visible minority population born in Canada.
65.4 -- Percentage of the visible minority population of Markham, Ont., the highest of any Canadian city, meaning it's one of a few communities in the country where non-visible minorities are actually in the minority.
83.9 -- Percentage of recent immigrants from non-European countries, explaining the growth of the visible minority population.
175 -- The total visible minority population of Shawinigan, the home town of former prime minister Jean Chretien and one of several Quebec cities with a visible minority population of less than 0.5 per cent.
223 -- Number of different ancestries reported in the latest census. In 1901, there were only 25.
17,025 -- Number of Canadians who identified their ethnic origin as "Newfoundlander" -- far more than those who chose "Nova Scotian" (1,875) or "Ontarian" (1,650).
58,600 -- Number of visible minorities in the entire Atlantic region, which is less than the minority population of some Toronto suburbs like Vaughan, Ont.
289,400 -- Number of mixed unions, meaning marriages or common-law marriages involving at least one visible minority. The number of these marriages has increased 33 per cent since 2001.
--The Canadian Press
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