The Jewish population of Metropolitan Montreal increased only half as much as the total population of the area during the decade of 1951 to 1961, the Canadian Jewish Congress reported here today after an analysis of the latest census results. Montreal Jews are now believed to have lost their place as the largest ethnic group after the French and the English.
Metropolitan Montreal’s Jewish population increased by 26.4 percent during the 10-year period compared with a 51.2 percent increase among the general population. Estimates place the current Jewish population of Montreal at 120,000 compared with 102,724 in 1961. In that year Jews comprised 4.9 percent of the total population of Metropolitan Montreal compared with 5.7 percent a decade earlier.
Jews over 70 years of age made up a larger percentage of the total population in 1961 than in 1951, while those 14 and under formed 7.6 percent in 1961 as compared to 11.6 percent for the age group of the general population.
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