Residents can explore long-term population forecasts, compare municipal growth and examine demographic trends through the new online tool.
The County of Simcoe has launched an interactive dashboard that gives residents and local organizations a closer look at projected population growth across the region.
The new Population Growth Dashboard provides access to long-term population forecasts and demographic projections for the County's 16 member municipalities, as well as the separated cities of Barrie and Orillia.
The tool allows users to explore anticipated population changes through interactive maps, tables and visualizations. Users can also compare growth between municipalities, examine different population scenarios and look at trends related to age and gender.
Developed by the County's Community Partnerships, Policy and Business Intelligence team in collaboration with its Planning Department, the dashboard combines municipal growth forecasts with population projections from Statistics Canada.
The information brings together the County's official plan amendment growth framework and independent Statistics Canada projections to support local planning and decision-making.
According to the County, the data could be used to inform community needs assessments, grant applications, housing and infrastructure planning, and long-term service delivery.
The dashboard also outlines its data sources and methodologies, allowing users to better understand the differences between municipal forecasts, demographic projections and supplementary estimates.
It's available through the County's open data platform at open.simcoe.ca.
The portal also features several other interactive resources, including a 2021 Census Tool, Rental Data Aggregator and Affordable Housing Indicators Dashboard.
