Background - Youth Snapshot
Who are we? How many of us live here? Where do we come from?
Not surprisingly, the answers to these questions are complex and always changing. Here’s a quick snapshot of youth in Vancouver. It’s a small part of the picture of who we are. According to the 2006 Census, there are 81,261 youth age 15 to 24 living in Vancouver.
- Most of this group are age 20 to 24 (66%), and their numbers are growing, as Vancouver continues to attract university and foreign language students, and new workers.
- The number of high-school-age youth is slowly declining, relative to Vancouver’s overall population growth rate.
- The relative size of the youth population is shrinking compared to other age groups. Youth represent only 13% of Vancouver’s total population.
- This trend is expected to continue. By 2036, it’s projected that youth will make up only 11% of the total population.
- Young people live in every Vancouver neighbourhood, but tend to be concentrated in certain areas. For example, approximately 57% of youth age 20 to 24 live west of Granville Street, including UBC (but excluding downtown). The largest proportion of youth age 15 to 19 live in South Vancouver.
- Vancouver youth are incredibly diverse. More than 60% belong to groups that were traditionally considered “visible minorities.”
- One third of youth (24,530) are immigrants. More than 80% hail from Asia and the Middle East and 55% come specifically from China and Hong Kong.
- The first language for more than a third of Vancouver youth isn’t English or French. In 2006, Chinese was the mother tongue for 17% of youth.