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This demolinguistic portrait of Nova Scotia Francophones contains considerable and varied information on the characteristics, practices and perceptions of this language group. What stands out from all this information? While the following items are not a complete list of the key points contained in this report, they provide a general picture.

1. The French-mother-tongue population decreased by 13% between 1951 and 2006, dropping from 38,945 to 33,710. For their part, the English-mother-tongue and "other"-mother-tongue persons populations have increased by 42% and 136%, respectively, going from 588,610 to 833,925 and from 15,030 to 35,460.
   
   
2. In Nova Scotia, use of the first official language spoken (FOLS) criterion results in a slightly smaller Francophone population, despite a strong allophone presence. The relative share of the French population (according to first official language spoken) within the overall population of Nova Scotia is 3.5% (31,510) while that of the French-mother-tongue population is 3.7% (33,710).
   
   
3. The Francophone minority constitutes 3.6% of the overall population of Nova Scotia. Nearly two-thirds of the Francophone population lives in three census divisions (CDs): Halifax (32% or 10,240 persons), Digby (19% or 6,050) and Yarmouth (17% or 5,525). The Digby CD includes the census subdivision of Clare while the Yarmouth CD includes the census subdivision of Argyle. These two census subdivisions alone account for 13% and 18% of Nova Scotia's Francophones respectively, the largest proportions of Francophones after Halifax. Lastly, somewhat smaller proportions of Francophones—just under 7% and 9%--live in Richmond and Inverness census divisions.
   
   
4. From 1971 to 2006, among all families with at least one French-mother-tongue parent, the proportion of French-English exogamous families increased in Nova Scotia, from 50% to 72%. Conversely, the share of children living in an endogamous family with both parents having French as their mother tongue declined substantially, from 48% in 1971 to 26% in 2006. By the same token, the proportion of children with one French-speaking parent and one allophone parent remained marginal, at 1.5% in 1971 and 2% in 2006.
   
   
5. Because of the increasing proportion of French-English exogamous couples from 1971 to 2006, and the corresponding decrease in the proportion of French-speaking endogamous couples, one might expect to see a decrease in the rate of transmission to children of the minority language (in this case, French). In 1971, French had been passed on to 7% of the children under the age of 18 of French-English exogamous couples, whereas that proportion increased to 16% in 2006. There was a similar increase among Francophone endogamous couples: their transmission of French to children under the age of 18 went from 85% in 1971 to 89% in 2006. However, there was a decrease in the transmission of French to the children of French-"other"-language exogamous couples, from 31% to 29%, during the same period.
   
   
6. Between 1971 and 2006, the French-mother-tongue population saw its numbers decrease by 15%, from 39,585 to 33,710. All cohorts under age 40 saw their numbers decline. Conversely, there was a slight increase in the number of persons aged 40 and over because of the aging of the population and longer life expectancy.
   
   
7. Across the censuses, there is a rise in the rate of language transfer among French-mother-tongue persons in Nova Scotia. Thus, in 1971, 34% of the province's Francophones with French as a mother tongue reported using another language, usually English, most often at home. Thirty-five years later, 49% of French-mother-tongue persons reported speaking a language other than French most often at home. Among English-mother-tongue persons, the proportion of language transfers was almost nil and remained stable over the period, registering 0.3% in 1971 and 0.2% in 2006. Among "other"-mother-tongue persons, language transfers declined slightly over the past 35 years, from 57% in 1971 to 52% in 2006.
   
   
8. Overall in Nova Scotia, a larger proportion of Francophones report speaking English most often at home (complete and partial language transfers) than the proportion that report being more at ease in English than in French. Thus, 49% of Nova Scotia Francophones report speaking English most often at home, while 35% report being more at ease in English than in French.
   
   
9. In Nova Scotia, the population with French as first official language spoken uses English above all in the public and private spheres: 66% reported they use English predominantly (mainly or only). It is in the home (48%) that French remains the language of communication most used by Nova Scotia Francophones. In the public sphere, 29% of them use French mainly or only with friends and 24% do so in their immediate network. Moreover, 64% of Francophones use mainly or only English at work and 79% do so in institutions and stores. In 86% of cases, they consume media mainly or only in English. While 48% of Francophones report using mainly or only English at home, nearly 60% report doing so with friends and in their immediate network.
   
   
10. Within the overall population of Nova Scotia in 2006, the proportion of persons who reported being able to conduct a conversation in French (11.0%) was greater than the proportion who reported French alone or with another language as their mother tongue (3.9%), or the proportion for whom French is the first official language spoken (3.6%).
    
    
11. The relative share of Nova Scotians who are able to conduct a conversation in French is highly polarized by language group. Whereas 92% of persons with French as a mother tongue reported knowing both official languages, the corresponding proportion was only 7% for persons with English as a mother tongue and 10% for persons with another mother tongue. Among the latter group, 4% reported that they were unable to conduct a conversation in either French or English.
    
    
12. In 2006, 66% of French-mother-tongue persons in Nova Scotia had been born there. The proportion is substantially the same for persons for whom French is the first official language spoken. Regardless of the criterion used, 30% of Nova Scotia Francophones were born in another province or territory of Canada, including nearly 15% born in Quebec and 9% in New Brunswick.
    
    
13. The immigrant population with French as first official language spoken represents a very small proportion of the whole immigrant population in the province. In 2006, this percentage was 2.8%. Whereas in 1971, the French-speaking immigrant share of the Francophone population was 2.9%, it stood at nearly 4.0% in 2006, a share roughly equivalent to that of the English-speaking immigrant population within the Anglophone population (5.0%).
    
    
14. From 1981 to 2006, Nova Scotia received between 2,800 and 3,500 Francophones per five-year period from other Canadian provinces and territories. However, during the same period, between 2,700 and 4,200 Francophones left the province to settle elsewhere in Canada. Consequently, since 1986, net interprovincial migration of Francophones has been negative, and for the period from 2001 to 2006 it stood at - 850. For the province's Anglophones too, starting in 1986, the number leaving Nova Scotia exceeded the number coming to settle there. As a result, for the past two decades, Nova Scotia has had negative net migration, which has fluctuated from one five-year period to another.
    
    
15. In the 2006 Census, 20% of doctors working in Nova Scotia, or 280 out of a total of 1,380, reported that they were able to conduct a conversation in French, while 5.4% reported using French at least regularly at work. For nurses, who numbered 9,625, these proportions were 9.5% and 3.2% respectively.
    
    
16. Results from the Survey on the Vitality of Official-Language Minorities show that the vast majority of Nova Scotia Francophones (81%) report using French in their contacts with the different health care professionals about whom information was collected in that survey: family doctors, nurses, telephone health line or telehealth service professionals and professionals in other places that people go to in order to obtain care.
    
    
17. According to the 2006 Census, 8% of Nova Scotia police officers reported using French at least regularly at work. This rate is much lower than the proportion who can conduct a conversation in French, namely 15%. The same applies to lawyers: their rate of use of French at least regularly at work is also much lower than the proportion of lawyers who are able to conduct a conversation in French, namely 20%.
    
    
18. In Nova Scotia, 6,610 children of Francophone parents were enrolled in kindergarten, elementary or secondary school at the time of the survey. Of those children, 68% were receiving an education in French, including 51% in a French school. The remaining children enrolled in kindergarten, elementary or secondary school (32%) were attending an English-language school (regular program).
    
    
19. In 2006, Francophones and Anglophones differ very little regarding postsecondary education. Francophones (18%) are as likely as Anglophones to have a college diploma (20%), and the proportion of Francophones with a university degree (17%) is also similar to that of Anglophones (18%). However, at lower educational levels, Francophones (29%) are more likely than Anglophones (23%) to have no certificate, diploma or degree whereas Anglophones (21%) are more likely than Francophones (15%) to have a high school diploma.
    
    
20. The 2006 statistics reveal that mean and median incomes of persons with French as their first official language spoken are slightly higher than those of Anglophones. Thus, men having French as their only first official language spoken (FOLS) have mean and median incomes nearly $4,000 higher than those of men in the English FOLS group. For women, Francophones' mean and medium incomes are similar to those of Anglophones.
    
    
21. As to the mean and median incomes of persons with both French and English as first official languages spoken, for men, they are lower than those of Francophones and Anglophones, while for women they are slightly higher. For example, the mean and medium incomes of Francophone men are higher than those of men with French and English FOLS by a margin of nearly $12,000, while for Francophone women they are approximately $2,000 lower.
    
    
22. The majority of the province's Francophones (76%) reported that it is important or very important to them to be able to use French in their daily life. Also, they consider it important or very important for individuals or organizations to work in developing the French-speaking community (86%), for government services to be provided in French (77%) and for linguistic rights to be respected in their province (76%).