|
The demographics of Quebec constitutes a complex and sensitive issue, especially as it relates to the National Question of Canada. Quebec is the only province in Canada to feature a francophone (French-speaking) majority, and where anglophones (English-speakers) constitute an officially recognized minority group. Francophones currently constitute approximately 81% of the overall population, though they have had a low birthrate. While this birthrate has increased in recent years, especially in the city of Québec and various regions of Quebec, in Montreal it remains low. If such trends continue, researchers predict that the low birthrate amongst francophones and the lack of adoption of the French language and assimilation into the francophone culture by allophone (those whose primary language is neither English nor French) immigrants will cause the French-speaking population on the island of Montreal to dive below the 50 percent mark in the coming decades, but not the Montreal metropolitan census area as a whole.〔(''What constitutes a francophone?'' ) by Anna Bratulic, the ''McGill Reporter''〕 A previous decline in the francophone birth rate, and perceived weakening position of the French language in Montreal, led to the passing of the ''Charter of the French Language'' (Bill 101) by the provincial government in order to protect the status of the French language as well as to increase the francophone population in the future. The use of French throughout Quebec has been strengthened, on top of this, immigrants from Francophone countries (such as Mali, Algeria, Cameroon) continue to increase the francophone population in Quebec and Canada.〔(Quebec entry ) in Encarta. (Archived ) 2009-10-31.〕 Quebec is also home to "one of the world's most valuable founder populations", the Quebec Founder Population. Founder populations are very valuable to medical genetic research as they are pockets of low genetic variability which provide a useful research context for discovering gene-disease linkages. The Quebec Founder Population arose through the influx of people into Quebec from France in the 17th century to mid-18th century; though this influx was large, a high proportion of the immigrants either died or returned to France, leaving a founder population of approximately 2,600 people.〔 About seven million Canadians (along with several million French Americans in the United States) are descendants of these original 2,600 colonists.〔 ==Population== Population since 1851: ''Source: Statistics Canada'' ()() 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Demographics of Quebec」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|