Language demographics of Quebec

This article presents the current language demographics of the Canadian province of Quebec.

Demographic terms

The complex nature of Quebec's linguistic situation, with individuals who are often bilingual or multilingual, requires the use of multiple terms in order to describe the languages which people speak.

;Francophone: Speaking French as a first language.

;Anglophone: Speaking English as a first language.

;Allophone: Having a mother tongue other than English or French.

; Mother tongue : The first language learned by a person, which may or may not still be used by that individual in adulthood, is a basic measure of a population's language. However, with the high number of mixed francophone-anglophone marriages and the reality of multilingualism in Montreal, this description does not give a true linguistic portrait of Quebec. It is, however, still essential, for example in order to calculate the assimilation rate. Statistics Canada defines mother tongue as the first language learned in childhood and still spoken; it does not presuppose literacy in that or any language.

; Home language : This is the language most often spoken at home and is currently preferred to identify francophones, anglophones, and allophones. This descriptor has the advantage of pointing out the current usage of languages. However, it fails to describe the language that is most used at work, which may be different.

; Knowledge of official languages : This measure describes which of the two official languages of Canada a person can speak informally. This relies on the person's own evaluation of his/her linguistic competence and can prove misleading.

; First official language learned: Measures whether English or French are the first of the two official languages learned; it places allophones into English or French linguistic communities.

; Official language minority: Based on first official language learned, but placing half of the people equally proficient since childhood in both English and French into each linguistic community; it is used by the Canadian government to determine the demand for minority language services in a region

Current demographics

Knowledge of languages

The question on knowledge of languages allows for multiple responses, and first appeared on the 1991 Canadian census.