According to the Canadian government, approximately 2.54 million people residing in Montreal, in the province of Quebec, had French as their mother tongue in 2021. About 474,730 of them had English, the second official language, as their birth language. However, there were more people that year ( 522,255) whose mother tongue was an Indo-European language, such as German, Russian or Polish.
Number of people living in Montréal, Québec in Canada in 2021, by mother tongue
Characteristic
Number of people
French
2,543,265
Indo-European languages
522,255
English
474,730
Afro-Asiatic languages
204,590
Sino-Tibetan languages
81,725
English and French
81,475
French and non-official language(s)
77,460
Creole languages
58,390
English and non-official language(s)
44,335
Austro-Asiatic languages
34,245
English, French and non-official language(s)
25,670
Austronesian languages
22,325
Niger-Congo languages
21,370
Created with Highcharts 7.2.2Number of people2,543,2652,543,265522,255522,255474,730474,730204,590204,59081,72581,72581,47581,47577,46077,46058,39058,39044,33544,33534,24534,24525,67025,67022,32522,32521,37021,37017,88517,8858,5408,5408,3058,3056,2556,2554,6204,6203,9553,9552,2902,29072072063063054054021021013513513513555FrenchIndo-European languagesEnglishAfro-Asiatic languagesSino-Tibetan languagesEnglish and FrenchFrench and non-official language(s)Creole languagesEnglish and non-official language(s)Austro-Asiatic languagesEnglish, French and non-official language(s)Austronesian languagesNiger-Congo languagesDravidian languagesTurkic languagesMultiple non-official languagesKoreanUralic languagesTai-Kadai languagesJapaneseSign languagesIndigenous languagesNilo-Saharan languagesMongolianGeorgianOther languagesHmong-Mien languages
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The source adds the following information: "Mother tongue refers to the first language learned at home in childhood and still understood by the person at the time the data was collected. If the person no longer understands the first language learned, the mother tongue is the second language learned. For a person who learned more than one language at the same time in early childhood, the mother tongue is the language this person spoke most often at home before starting school. The person has more than one mother tongue only if they learned these languages at the same time, and still understands them. For a child who has not yet learned to speak, the mother tongue is the language spoken most often to this child at home. A child who has not yet learned to speak has more than one mother tongue only if these languages are spoken to them equally often so that the child learns these languages at the same time." More information on the Census' language classification can be found here.
Adapted from Statistics Canada, Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population, 2021. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
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StatCan. (September 2, 2022). Number of people living in Montréal, Québec in Canada in 2021, by mother tongue [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved March 09, 2025, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/1339083/population-montreal-canada-mother-tongue/
StatCan. "Number of people living in Montréal, Québec in Canada in 2021, by mother tongue." Chart. September 2, 2022. Statista. Accessed March 09, 2025. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1339083/population-montreal-canada-mother-tongue/
StatCan. (2022). Number of people living in Montréal, Québec in Canada in 2021, by mother tongue. Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: March 09, 2025. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1339083/population-montreal-canada-mother-tongue/
StatCan. "Number of People Living in Montréal, Québec in Canada in 2021, by Mother Tongue." Statista, Statista Inc., 2 Sep 2022, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1339083/population-montreal-canada-mother-tongue/
StatCan, Number of people living in Montréal, Québec in Canada in 2021, by mother tongue Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1339083/population-montreal-canada-mother-tongue/ (last visited March 09, 2025)
Number of people living in Montréal, Québec in Canada in 2021, by mother tongue [Graph], StatCan, September 2, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1339083/population-montreal-canada-mother-tongue/
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