II.

People

The Halifax Regional Municipality had a population of 359,111 at the 2001 census. The census metropolitan area (CMA) of Halifax was home to 369,100 people in 2001, up from 320,501 in 1991. The Halifax CMA is home to more than 1 in 3 of all Nova Scotians. About half of the Halifax CMA’s residents live in the urban core; another one-third reside in the suburbs while the remainder are rural. The 5-year growth rate of the city’s population was 4.7 percent from 1996 to 2001, with most of that increase taking place in the suburbs. There has been little foreign immigration; most residents of Halifax are Canadian-born and of British descent. A major exception is the city’s small (under 3 percent) but historically significant black community; its roots go back to the early 19th century.