By Geoff Smith (@smithco on Twitter)

Census release gives profile of spoken languages, family and household size

Aug 2, 2017 | 10:15 AM

LETHBRIDGE — German is Lethbridge’s second largest mother tongue, according to the latest data from Statistics Canada.

A large release of results from the 2016 federal census reveals 4,500 people in the Lethbridge Census Metropolitan Area who responded with German as their mother tongue, defined as the first language the individual learned to speak at the home and can still understand.

Other minority languages with significant numbers include Dutch (2,025), Spanish (1,585), Tagalog (1,055), Chinese languages (905), Nepali (965), Polish (440), and Arabic (405).

The total who gave a non-official language as their mother tongue was 17,005, compared to 1,060 for French and 96,305 English.

The census showed 260 people who identify Blackfoot as their mother tongue and another 20 for Cree.

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There were also 1,485 who listed more than one language as mother tongue. Most of them were a combination of English and a language other than French.

Single-detached home dominates Lethbridge area

Statistics Canada also released data on households and families. It indicates roughly two-thirds of all occupied dwellings in the Lethbridge CMA are single-family detached homes.

Roughly 12 per cent are apartment units in buildings of fewer than five storeys. Duplex units, semi-detached and row houses each made up between five and six per cent, while three per cent are mobile homes and less than two per cent consist of high-rise apartments.

Of the 45,695 homes, 37 per cent were occupied by two people, 26 per cent one person, 15 per cent by three, 13 per cent by four people, and the remainder by five or more.

Out of Lethbridge’s 15-plus population of 94,970, 59 per cent are married or living common-law. The average size of a census family is 2.9, same as the national average, while the average household size of 2.5 people is slightly higher than Canada’s 2.4 average.

Nearly half of the 27,070 census families involving couples have no children in the household. Of the 13,050 who do, the most common number of children is two. There are also 4,535 lone-parent families.