Halifax continues to grow while rural areas around Nova Scotia continue to see a drop in their numbers, the latest census shows.

Overall, Nova Scotia's population remained steady, climbing only 0.6 per cent to 913,462 from 908,007 in 2001, according to census numbers released Tuesday.

In Halifax, 372,679 people were counted in the 2006 census, a 3.8 per cent increase. In 2001, the population was 359,111, which was up 4.7 per cent from the 1996 census.

"This was growth that continued the trend that we saw in 2001," said Marc Melanson, regional adviser with Statistics Canada.

"With estimates and studies that we do … we can see that a lot of the population from the rest of Nova Scotia is moving into urban centres."

The Cape Breton Regional Municipality experienced a 3.5 per cent drop from 105,968 to 102,250. That follows a 7.6 per cent decrease in population between 1996 and 2001.

John Whalley, economic development officer for the CBRM, said the numbers show a region in decline.

"Population drives everything about an economy and society," he said. "We're now at a population level below where we were in the 1930s."

Fourteen of the 18 counties in the province experienced a drop in numbers. Besides Halifax, only Kings, Hants and Colchester counties gained.

Counties	% Change
Halifax	3.8
Kings	2.0
Hants	1.7
Colchester	1.5
Lunenburg	-0.9
Pictou	-1.0
Annapolis	-1.5
Cumberland	-1.7
Yarmouth	-2.1
Digby	-2.8
Cape Breton	-3.1
Antigonish	-3.8
Shelburne	-4.2
Queens	-4.4
Inverness	-4.5
Victoria	-4.6
Richmond	-4.7
Guysborough	-7.8

Whalley said the decline in population is related to the booming economy in western Canada, where thousands of Nova Scotians have gone for work.

But the numbers also reflect government policy, he added.

"In my view it's very much a function … of a provincial policy that's totally geared to growing the central core at the expense of every other region in the province," Whalley said.

It's not healthy for the province to have ailing rural communities, said Lloyd Hines, warden of Guysborough County.

"You cannot have a province with a central area that is growing and everywhere else is in atrophy, because it breaks down our institutions, it breaks down our health-care delivery, it breaks down our educational delivery," Hines said.

Nova Scotia Liberals are renewing their call for the creation of a department dedicated to rural economic development. Richmond MLA Michel Samson said the future success of Nova Scotia depends on having strong urban and rural areas.

Statistics Canada will release more data from the 2006 census throughout the year, including detailed information about interprovincial migration.

The federal government uses the census as a base to determine how much Nova Scotia gets in transfer payments to pay for health care and other costs.