Population.

2006 estimate for the Sunshine Coast: 29,262 (a change of 2.34% from 2005)

Sunshine Coast Regional District: Population 14,718

Comprises of unincorporated areas such as Port Mellon, Roberts Creek, Halfmoon Bay, Pender Harbour and Egmont.

The SCRD administers the largest geographic and demographic areas of the Sunshine Coast.

Gibsons: Population 4,458

Perched over Howe Sound, the Town of Gibsons at the southern end of the Sunshine Coast. Gibsons is the commercial boating centre of the area with its large government dock and protected harbour.

Sechelt: Population 9,224

At the heart of the Sunshine Coast, the Corporation of the District of Sechelt sits on a spit of land, an isthmus, between the outside waters of the Georgia Strait and a series of the inlets that comprise Sechelt Inlet, known as the Inland Sea.

Sechelt Indian Government District: Population 862

The Sechelt Indian Band was the first in Canada to achieve self-government and municipal status. The community is located within the Sechelt municipality, but is administered separately.

During the frame of 1987 to 1991 the Sunshine Coast population increased by 27%; by the year 2004 the population is expected to reach 34,000, an increase of 31%.

The age of the population is distributed almost equally between 0-60+ age groups.

More than 20% of the Sunshine Coast tax filers are over age 64, compared to the BC average of 15%. The total number of dwellings was about 8,230 at the end of 1990 and the average household size of 2.49 is slightly lower than the BC average.

The retirement population accounts for about 30%.