Prince George population up

The city’s population appears to have grown.

As of midway through 2019, it stood at 81,345 people, up by 1,335 or 1.7 per cent from the year before, according figures from the provincial government’s B.C. Stats released in late January.

The count made Prince George the 16th-largest community in the province. Vancouver is the largest at 685,885, followed by Surrey at 584,526.

For the province as a whole, the total stood at 5,071,336, up by more than 70,000 people or 1.4 per cent.

B.C. Stats takes the most recent federal census figures, from 2016 in this case, and looks at various indicators - notably BC Hydro connections and B.C. health client registry numbers in the case of small population communities - to come up with the estimates.

For the Fraser-Fort George Regional District as a whole, the estimate stood at 103,392, up 1,477 people with 16,207 living in unincorporated areas, up 33.

Community by community, Mackenzie was home to 4,046 people, up 85, Valemount stood at 1,128, up 16, and McBride stood at 666, up seven.

The Bulkley-Nechako Regional Distric was 39,614, up 97, with 19,886 in the unincorporated areas, up 93.

For Smithers, the count was 5,670, up 36; for Vanderhoof, it was 4,668, up 34; for Houston it was 3,106, down nine; and for Burns Lake it was 1,871, up 13.

For Fort St. James, it was 1,728, down 58; for Telkwa, it was 1,402, down five; for Fraser Lake it was 973, down nine; and for Granisle it was 310, up two.

The Cariboo Regional District’s population was 65,456, up 343, with 41,455 living in the unincorporated areas, up 259. For Williams Lake it was 11,359 , up 16, for Quesnel it was 10,392, up 57, and for 100 Mile House it was 2,019, up 16.