Inverness County, Nova Scotia
Inverness County is a historical county and census division of Nova Scotia, Canada located on Cape Breton Island. Local government is provided by the Municipality of the County of Inverness, the town of Port Hawkesbury and the Whycocomagh 2 Waycobah First Nation reserve.
History
Established as the County of Juste au Corps in 1835, Inverness County was given its present name in 1837. It was named after Sir Cameron Inverness of Scotland, the land from which many of the early settlers came. Agriculture and fishing dominated the economy with exports of butter and cattle to Newfoundland and Halifax for most of the nineteenth century. The construction of the Inverness and Richmond Railway in 1901, and the subsequent opening of coal mines at Port Hood, Mabou, and Inverness, created the "only home market" local farmers had ever had.The boundaries of Inverness County had been previously defined when Cape Breton Island was divided by statute into three districts in 1823. In 1996, the county was amalgamated into a single municipality with the exception of Port Hawkesbury.
Demographics
As a census division in the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Inverness County had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of. With a land area of, it had a population density of in 2021.Forming the majority of the Inverness County census division, the Municipality of the County of Inverness, including its Subdivisions A, B, and C, had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of. With a land area of, it had a population density of in 2021.
Population trend
| Census | Population | Change |
| 2021 | 17,346 | 0.6% |
| 2016 | 17,235 | 4.0% |
| 2011 | 17,947 | 5.7% |
| 2006 | 19,036 | 4.5% |
| 2001 | 19,937 | 4.7% |
| 1996 | 20,918 | 3.2% |
| 1991 | 21,620 | 1.5% |
| 1986 | 21,946 | 1.8% |
| 1981 | 22,337 | N/A |
| 1941 | 20,573 | |
| 1931 | 21,055 | |
| 1921 | 23,808 | |
| 1911 | 25,571 | |
| 1901 | 24,353 | |
| 1891 | 25,779 | |
| 1881 | 25,651 | |
| 1871 | 23,415 | N/A |
Native language
| Language | Population | Pct |
| English only | 14,360 | 81.31% |
| French only | 2,315 | 13.11% |
| Non-official languages | 825 | 4.67% |
| Multiple responses | 165 | 0.93% |
Ethnic groups
| Ethnic origin | Population | Pct |
| Scottish | 9,365 | 49.9% |
| Canadian | 6,460 | 34.5% |
| French | 4,620 | 24.6% |
| English | 3,880 | 20.7% |
| Irish | 3,680 | 19.6% |
| Acadian | 1,180 | 6.3% |
| North American Indian | 910 | 4.9% |
| German | 580 | 3.1% |
| Dutch (Netherlands) | 555 | 3.0% |
Transport
- Highways
- *
- Trunk routes
- *
- *
- *Cabot Trail
- Collector routes:
- *
- *
- *
- *