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The MRC d’Arthabaska is among the MRCs whose population grew during the periods from 1986 to 1991 and from 1991 to 1996. The population increases during these two periods were 3.5% and 4.4% respectively, which is higher than the population growth of the Centre-du-Québec region from 1991 to 1996 (3.6%) and of the province as a whole (3.5%). With a total increase of 4,671 residents, the MRC d’Arthabaska saw its demographic weight increase from 28.8% in 1986 to 29.2% in 1996.

In Victoriaville, the main city of the MRC d’Arthabaska, the population growth rate increased from 4.4% (1986-1991) to 4.9% (1991-1996). From 1986 to 1996, the population of the municipality of Victoriaville grew by 9.5%, which is higher than the growth rate of all the municipalities of 25,000 residents or more in Québec (6.1%). It thus ranked 31st in Québec in terms of population. Furthermore, Victoriaville was 14th along the population growth scale of the 48 municipalities of 25,000 residents or more in Québec during the period from1991 to 1996.

Sources: Centre-du-Québec, la région administrative, les MRC et les principales municipalités and the Bureau de la statistique du Québec.




In 2001, there were 218,502 residents in the Centre-du-Québec region. The area accounts for close to 3% of the population of Québec, which makes it the 12th largest administrative region in the province.

Since 1981, the population of the Centre-du-Québec region has been rising, just like that of Québec as a whole, but at a progressively slower pace. The regional growth rate since then has been higher than that of the province at large, except between 1986 and 1991. Overall the population of the Centre-du-Québec region met with an 8% increase between 1981 and 2001, compared to 10.7% for Québec as a whole.

The 2001 census, however, showed that the Centre-du-Québec population grew by 1.7% between 1996 and 2001, compared to 1.4% for the entire province of Québec. The MRC de Drummond fared particularly well with a population increase of 4.6% during this period, followed by the MRC d’Arthabaska, which registered an increase of 1.9%.