When it comes to languages spoken in Ponoka, English remains the most spoken, according to the latest 2016 Statistics Canada Census release.
The language and family household Census numbers were released Aug. 2 and show that in both the town and county of Ponoka, English is the most spoken language. But where the two municipalities show a difference is in the mother tongue languages spoken.
According to Statistics Canada, mother tongue refers to the first language learned at home in childhood and still understood by the child.
“If the person no longer understands the first language learned, the mother tongue is the second language learned,” states the Census Canada website.
For the Town of Ponoka, Tagalog (from the Philippines) is the second most-spoken language at 290 people (40 for Ponoka County). For Ponoka County, however, the second most-spoken language is Dutch at 305 (60 for the town) followed closely by German at 300 (120 for the town).
Cree as a mother tongue is almost a tie with 35 residents in the county and 30 in town.
Families, households and marital status
Ponoka County has seen some growth over the last Census (2011) with 3,535 occupied private dwellings from 2016 as compared to 3,175.
The total population aged 15 years and over, by marital status, also shows growth with 7,955 (4115 male and 3,840 female) residents compared to 7,215 people. Of those almost 8,000 people, 5,505 are married or living common law while 2,445 are nor neither married nor living common law.
There are also 2,665 couples in Ponoka County, with 1,445 without children and 1,220 with children. As for lone parent families, there 200 in Ponoka County.
The Town of Ponoka has also seen some growth in its occupied private dwellings with 3,010 for 2016 as compared to 2,785 for 2011.
The total population aged 15 and over, by marital status, shows a population of 5,900 with 3,265 married or in common law. There are 2,630 people not married and not living common law. Some of those individuals will have never married (1,470), been separated (205), are divorced (490) or widowed (470).
The town has 375 lone parent families with 225 with one child, 100 with 2 children and 50 with three or more children.