Conception Bay South has surpassed Mount Pearl as the second largest community in Newfoundland and Labrador, according to the 2011 Canadian census.

The C.B.S area has 24,848 residents compared to 24, 284 in Mount Pearl.

In the 2006 census, Mount Pearl had almost 3000 more residents than C.B.S.

Mount Pearl’s population decreased by 1.6 percent while C.B.S.’s population increased by 13 per cent.

St. John’s remains the largest municipality in the province with 106,172 residents, a 5.5 per cent increase since 2006, when it had 100,646 residents.

Paradise, which has seen a whopping 40.6 per cent increase since 2006, is now the province’s fifth largest community with 17, 695 residents.

Population growth

Long Harbour-Mount Arlington, near where a new nickel processing facility is being built, had the largest percentage increase since 2006. Its population increased 41.6 per cent from 211 to 298 residents.

The Innu communities of Natuashish and Sheshatshiu also saw population increases of 31.9 per cent and 24 per cent, respectively.

Population decline

The province’s fourth largest community, Corner Brook, saw its population drop one per cent from 20,083 in 2006 to 19,886 in 2011.

Overall the population of Newfoundland and Labrador increased 1.8 per cent from 505,469 to 514,536 – that’s the first population growth for the province reported in a federal census since 1986.