Victoria, BC is the city you will spend a few years of your life in, so it will be useful to know as much about it as possible, and you can also boast about how much you know, so reading through a few facts and figures concerning the city comes in handy in multiple ways. I’m sure you didn’t know all, if any, of the interesting facts and figures about Victoria I am about to introduce you to.

Facts

Here are a few non-numerical facts about Victoria, BC. Did you realize that thanks to the city’s mild climate, certain kinds of bananas have no trouble growing in Victoria? You presumably guessed the city was named after Queen Victoria, but it can’t hurt to say so, just in case. Victoria is also one of the sunniest places in British Columbia. Did you know that the most present ethnic minority in Victoria are the Chinese? Also, the great climate in Victoria contributes to an unusually high rate of homelessness in this city, of which a shocking 50% consider themselves as descending from Aboriginal tribes. On a completely unrelated and wholly less serious matter, famous singer Nelly Furtado is actually from Victoria! Victoria is also the Western terminus for the longest national highway in the world, namely Trans-Canada Highway. Furthermore, Victoria is the only Canadian provincial capital without a local CBC Television affiliate. The four Sister Cities of Victoria are the following: Suzhou, in China, Morioka, in Japan, Napier, in New Zealand, and Khabarovsk, in Russia. Did you know that Victoria International Airport was one of Canada’s busiest airports in terms of passenger numbers? What’s more, Victoria is located on Vancouver Island, which is the biggest island on the west coast of North America. Victoria is also the oldest city of Western Canada. The people living in this city indeed have a lot to be proud of! In fact, when a survey was conducted all over Canada, Victoria residents were most satisfied with their hometown – and right they were! These are not all the facts there are about Victoria, obviously, there are many many things more worth knowing and discovering, and I am sure you will end up knowing more about the city than I do after you spend a few years at UVic. However, I can’t list everything and anything worth knowing about Victoria, one could write a novel about that, and I’ll leave the hard work to you, the zealous students. In the meantime, I will just add to the article a few figures related to Victoria.

Figures

Let us start off with a few general figures related to Victoria. The city has a population of about 78600 people, with a population density of approximately 4000 / km². By population, Greater Victoria with its 330 000 residents approximately is the 15th largest metropolitan area in Canada. Around 6.5% of the population are older than 80, isn’t that unbelievable? Well, maybe the climate keeps you healthy! The city is elevated 75 feet above sea level and it has an area of 7.6 square miles. The city makes great profit out of the very many tourists who come and visit – over 3.65 million per year, who enrich the local economy by over one billion dollars. Victoria averages 2200 hours of sunshine per year, now isn’t that interesting? That’s 2200 hours to play sports, enjoy yourselves outdoors and have fun! Annually, it snows just about 10 inches, so no worries there, you don’t need a lot of warm jumpers and socks. I’m sure there are many, many more figures that could be interesting and relevant, but again, including them all in an article would be impossible, so I will leave you to find out more for yourselves, and have lots of fun in the process of course!

Conclusion

These few facts and figures are only a minor indication of how interesting and varied the city of Victoria really is. Anyone who lives in Victoria soon experiences its unique charm and grows to know and love it. If you decide to move elsewhere after university, leaving this fascinating city will be a hard thing to do, believe me when I say so.