POPULATION
A 1996 census showed that British Columbia had a population of 3,724,500. Most people live in the southwest and in the valleys of the south central part of the province. Four-fifths of the people speak English and less than 2% of the people speak French. One-half of the Native people in the province live on reserves and belong to six linguistic groups: Kootenay, Salishan, Haida, Tlingit, Wakashan, and Tsimshian. 
Many Asian people have concentrated primarily in Vancouver and the Lower Mainland. Approximately 80% of all people in British Columbia live in urban areas. Vancouver, the heart of Canada's third largest metropolitan area, has a population of 1,602,522.
