Census shows Caledon's population is 57,050

Census figures released last week showed Caledon's population reached 57,050 people in 2006.

This represented a 12.7 per cent increase from the Town's 2001 population of 50,605.

Other 2006 census statistics for Caledon included 18,915 total private dwellings of which 18,214 were occupied by usual residents. Caledon's land area is 687.17 square kilometres, giving it a population density per square kilometre of 83 people.

Caledon is one of three municipalities that makes up Peel region. Peel's population totalled 1,159,405 in 2006. Mississauga's population rose to 668,549 in 2006, up 9.1 per cent from 612,925 in 2001., while Brampton's population skyrocketed to 433,806 in 2006, a whopping 33.3 per cent increase from 325,428 in 2001.

A couple of Caledon's other neighbouring municipalities had smaller increases in their population. Orangeville's population hit 26,925 in 2006, up 6.6 per cent from 25,248 in 2001, and King's population reached 19,487 in 2006, a 5.1 per cent jump from 18,533 in 2001.

Ontario's population reached 12,160,282 in 2006, a 6.6 per cent increase from 11,410,046 in 2001. The province had 4,972,869 private dwellings of which 4,554,251 were occupied by usual residents. Its land area of 907,573.82 square kilometres meant a population density of 13.4 people per square kilometre.

Canada's population climbed to 31,612,897 in 2006, a 5.4 per cent increase from 30,007,094 in 2001. Canada's population increase was the highest of the G8 countries which also includes the United States (+5 per cent), Italy (+3.1 per cent), France (+3.1 per cent), the United Kingdom (+1.9 per cent), Japan (+0.4 per cent), Germany (+0.0 per cent) and Russia (-2.4 per cent).

Canada had 13,576,855 private dwellings in 2006 of which 12,435,520 were occupied by usual residents. The country's land area of 9,017,698.92 square kilometres resulted in a population density of 3.5 people per square kilometre.