Thu Dec 6, 2012
Places

Toronto’s most, and least, diverse neighbourhoods

Diversity may be our strength, but according to one good measure of multiculturalism—language—some areas do it better than others.

BY: David Topping

There’s a myth about Toronto, one that we’re understandably fond of: that we’re the most diverse city in the world, and that the United Nations even decreed as much. But it was never so—not quite. Instead, according to a 2001 paper by Michael J. Doucet, back in the 1980s, the Metro Toronto–run Multicultural Relations Office used U.N.-gathered data “to make the claim that Toronto was one of the world’s most multicultural cities” (emphasis ours). In a 1989 speech, then-mayor Art Eggleton mistakenly boasted that Toronto had been “noted by the United Nations as being the most racially and culturally diverse city in the world.” It spread from there.

Still, as the data still proves now, we’re no slouches when it comes to multiculturalism. According to the 2011 Census, 46 per cent of Torontonians have a “mother tongue” other than English, meaning that the very first language that nearly half of us learned at home was something else.

Not all neighbourhoods are created equally diverse, though, and not all neighbourhoods deserve equal credit for that multiculturalism.

To see how each measures up, the City of Toronto’s Wellbeing Toronto project calculates something called the Linguistic Diversity Index (or LDI), which is “the probability of two people having different mother tongues,” explains Wayne Chu, a planning analyst with the City. “The City of Toronto has an LDI score of .72, which means that a person living in the city has a 72 per cent chance of bumping into someone with a different mother tongue.” Put another way, a neighbourhood where English was the mother tongue of 40 per cent of residents, Tagalog was for another 40 per cent, and Mandarin was for the remaining 20 per cent would score lower, and would be less linguistically diverse, than one where English was the mother tongue of 40 per cent of residents, Tagalog was for another 20 per cent, Mandarin for another 17 per cent, Persian for 15 per cent, and Korean for the remaining 8 per cent.

While the latest neighbourhood-level Linguistic Diversity Index calculations based on last year’s census won’t be released as part of Wellbeing Toronto until early 2013, The Grid managed to snag an early look.

Toronto: here are your most, and least, diverse neighbourhoods.

MOST DIVERSE	LEAST DIVERSE

FLEMINGDON PARK Don Mills and Eglinton AREA 6,525 – English – 31.2% 1,635 – Urdu – 7.8% 1,360 – Persian – 6.5% 1,280 – Gujarati – 6.1% 1,100 – Tagalog – 5.3% 1,030 – Tamil – 4.9% 585 – Greek – 2.8% 550 – Spanish – 2.6% 510 – Bengali – 2.4% 460 – Chinese* – 2.2% 380 – Cantonese – 1.8% 375 – Arabic – 1.8% 375 – Mandarin – 1.8% 350 – Hindi – 1.7% 350 – Pashto – 1.7% 325 – Russian – 1.6% 265 – Sindhi – 1.3% 235 – French – 1.1% 235 – Korean – 1.1% (TOTAL POPULATION: 20,915)	THE BEACH Queen and WoodbinE AREA 18,075 – English – 86.8% 480 – French – 2.3% 275 – German – 1.3% (TOTAL POPULATION: 20,820)

DON VALLEY VILLAGE Don Mills and Van Horne 8,105 – English – 31.8% 2,670 – Mandarin – 10.5% 2,420 – Chinese* – 9.5% 1,885 – Persian – 7.4% 1,450 – Cantonese – 5.7% 905 – Tagalog – 3.6% 725 – Romanian – 2.8% 690 – Arabic – 2.7% 620 – Spanish – 2.4% 615 – Korean – 2.4% 585 – Russian – 2.3% 380 – Armenian – 1.5% 345 – Tamil – 1.4% 320 – Urdu – 1.3% 280 – Gujarati – 1.1% 270 – Greek – 1.1% (TOTAL: 25,480)	LEASIDE–BENNINGTON Eglinton and Laird 13,765 – English – 83.6% 265 – French – 1.6% 160 – Spanish – 1.0% 160 – German – 1.0% 160 – Chinese* – 1.0% (TOTAL: 16,460)

NEWTONBROOK WEST Bathurst and Drewry 6,480 – English – 29.6% 3,260 – Russian – 14.9% 2,015 – Korean – 9.2% 1,820 – Persian – 8.3% 1,815 – Tagalog – 8.3% 680 – Chinese* – 3.1% 645 – Italian – 2.9% 495 – Mandarin – 2.3% 415 – Cantonese – 1.9% 385 – Spanish – 1.8% 305 – Hebrew – 1.4% 250 – Romanian – 1.1% 240 – Ilocano – 1.1% (TOTAL: 21,890)	LAWRENCE PARK SOUTH Yonge and Blythwood 12,395 – English – 83.4% 275 – French – 1.9% 205 – Tagalog – 1.4% 170 – Spanish – 1.1% 155 – Italian – 1.0% (TOTAL: 14,855)

HENRY FARM Don Mills and Highway 401 3,660 – English – 34.2% 805 – Persian – 7.5% 735 – Mandarin – 6.9% 700 – Chinese* – 6.5% 630 – Arabic – 5.9% 520 – Tagalog – 4.9% 380 – Urdu – 3.5% 250 – Hindi – 2.3% 220 – Spanish – 2.1% 220 – Romanian – 2.1% 210 – Russian – 2.0% 200 – Cantonese – 2.0% 200 – Korean – 2.0% 195 – Tamil – 1.8% 175 – Bengali – 1.6% 150 – Gujarati – 1.4% 115 – French – 1.1% (TOTAL: 10,705)	LAWRENCE PARK NORTH Yonge and St. Germain 11,595 – English – 81.6% 220 – French – 1.5% 180 – Italian – 1.3% 165 – Korean – 1.2% 155 – Cantonese – 1.1% 150 – German – 1.1% 150 – Greek – 1.1% 145 – Tagalog – 1.0% 140 – Spanish – 1.0% 135 – Russian – 1.0% (TOTAL: 14,205)

WILLOWDALE EAST Willowdale and Sheppard 13,360 – English – 30.6% 4,940 – Persian – 11.3% 4,480 – Korean – 10.3% 4,240 – Chinese* – 9.7% 3,820 – Mandarin – 8.8% 3,805 – Cantonese – 8.7% 1,290 – Russian – 3.0% 795 – Arabic – 1.8% 755 – Spanish – 1.7% 415 – French – 1.0% (TOTAL: 43,655)	FOREST HILL SOUTH Spadina and Old Forest Hill 8,400 – English – 79.8% 245 – Tagalog – 2.3% 170 – French – 1.6% 155 – Spanish – 1.5% 120 – Russian – 1.1% 110 – Hungarian – 1.0% 110 – Serbian – 1.0% 105 – Yiddish – 1.0% (TOTAL: 10,520)

NEWTONBROOK EAST Bayview and Cummer 4,715 – English – 30.3% 2,045 – Persian – 13.2% 1,770 – Korean – 11.4% 1,430 – Chinese* – 9.2% 1,330 – Cantonese – 8.6% 1,065 – Mandarin – 6.9% 405 – Italian – 2.6% 335 – Russian – 2.2% 230 – Tagalog – 1.5% 150 – Spanish – 1.0% (TOTAL: 15,545)	ROSEDALE–MOORE PARK St. Clair and Mount Pleasant 16,050 – English – 79.3% 465 – French – 2.3% 310 – Spanish – 1.5% 280 – German – 1.4% (TOTAL: 20,250)

PLEASANT VIEW Finch and Victoria Park 4,955 – English – 31.9% 2,145 – Mandarin – 13.8% 1,935 – Chinese* – 12.4% 845 – Cantonese – 5.4% 845 – Greek – 5.4% 675 – Italian – 4.3% 505 – Persian – 3.2% 325 – Arabic – 2.1% 250 – Armenian – 1.6% 250 – Tagalog – 1.6% 230 – Macedonian – 1.5% 190 – Spanish – 1.2% 190 – Tamil – 1.2% 175 – Romanian – 1.1% 170 – Urdu – 1.1% 165 – Korean – 1.1% (TOTAL: 15,555)	BIRCHCLIFFE–CLIFFSIDE Kingston Road and Danforth 16,705 – English – 79.2% 405 – Bengali – 1.9% 365 – Cantonese – 1.7% 345 – Tagalog – 1.6% 325 – French – 1.5% 255 – Chinese* – 1.2% 245 – Italian – 1.2% 220 – Spanish – 1.0% 205 – Greek – 1.0% (TOTAL: 21,080)

L’AMOREAUX Finch and Warden 13,780 – English – 32.0% 5,480 – Chinese* – 12.7% 4,565 – Mandarin – 10.6% 4,565 – Cantonese – 10.6% 3,655 – Tamil – 8.5% 1,290 – Armenian – 3.0% 1,125 – Tagalog – 2.6% 845 – Arabic – 2.0% 715 – Italian – 1.7% 710 – Greek – 1.6% 675 – Persian – 1.6% 510 – Urdu – 1.2% 495 – Gujarati – 1.1% (TOTAL: 43,075)	KINGSWAY SOUTH Royal York and Bloor 7,115 – English – 78.5% 240 – Ukrainian – 2.6% 220 – Italian – 2.4% 195 – Polish – 2.2% 135 – German – 1.5% 125 – French – 1.4% 100 – Spanish – 1.1% 95 – Portuguese – 1.0% (TOTAL: 9,065)

HILLCREST VILLAGE Don Mills and McNicoll 5,135 – English – 29.9% 2,755 – Chinese* – 16.0% 2,460 – Mandarin – 14.3% 2,215 – Cantonese – 12.9% 670 – Persian – 3.9% 440 – Korean – 2.6% 270 – Romanian – 1.6% 210 – Spanish – 1.2% 200 – Russian – 1.2% 190 – Arabic – 1.1% (TOTAL: 17,195)	YONGE–ST. CLAIR 8,885 – English – 77.6% 245 – French – 2.1% 230 – Spanish – 2.0% 180 – Russian – 1.6% 120 – Hungarian – 1.0% 120 – Italian – 1.0% 120 – Persian – 1.0% 115 – German – 1.0% 110 – Romanian – 1.0% (TOTAL: 11,445)

AGINCOURT SOUTH–MALVERN WEST Sheppard and Brimley 6,375 – English – 30.1% 3,555 – Cantonese – 16.8% 3,310 – Chinese* – 15.6% 2,280 – Mandarin – 10.8% 1,035 – Tamil – 4.9% 530 – Gujarati – 2.5% 500 – Tagalog – 2.4% 415 – Italian – 2.0% 395 – Urdu – 1.9% 295 – Greek – 1.4% (TOTAL: 21,155)	YONGE–EGLINTON 8,055 – English – 77.6% 240 – French – 2.3% 235 – Spanish – 2.3% 145 – Korean – 1.4% 115 – Tagalog – 1.1% 115 – Chinese* – 1.1% 110 – German – 1.1% 100 – Italian – 1.0% (TOTAL: 10,380 )

* “Chinese” includes all census respondents who said that their mother tongue was Chinese without specifying further by, for instance, naming Mandarin, Cantonese, or Chaochow.

The rankings above represent the city’s highest and lowest-scoring neighbourhoods, by Linguistic Diversity Index. Since the raw data was assembled by the City of Toronto, it’s their neighbourhood names and boundaries we’re working with; you can see those names and boundaries here. (We made one exception, renaming The Beach from The Beaches.)

It turns out that diverse neighbourhoods in Toronto are each diverse in a different way, with vastly different second– and third–most popular mother tongues—for each neighbourhood, we’ve included every mother tongue that represents 1 per cent or more of the population. Less diverse neighbourhoods, on the other hand, are un-diverse in more or less the same way: French, German, Spanish, and Italian tend to appear over and over again as runners-up, and their speakers are vastly outnumbered.

(Wondering why we’re relying on mother tongues to measure overall diversity? Other single metrics, like immigration statuses or ethnic origins, are less reliable measurements, thanks to the abolition of the mandatory long-form census.)

If you were looking for a clear geographic pattern in the most and least diverse areas, there’s one obvious one: Toronto’s most diverse neighbourhoods are, for the most part, clustered farther north and farther east, nearer to the city’s northern edge, than its least diverse, which gather around Yonge Street, south of Highway 401, in the centre of the city. That’s a pattern that becomes less pronounced quickly once you move beyond the top and bottom tens, however. Downtown neighbourhoods, meanwhile, tend to sit closer to the average, diversity-wise; out of 140 neighbourhoods, it’s not until #22 on the most-diverse list (North St. James Town) and #21 on the least-diverse list (The Annex) that downtown neighbourhoods appear. Curiously, most of Toronto’s most and least diverse neighbourhoods, when it comes to mother tongues, are north of St. Clair or east of the Don River. And many downtown neighbourhoods celebrated for their diversity, like Kensington Market–Chinatown or Parkdale, sit just a few percentage points away from Toronto’s overall average.

More on all of that, though, is coming up next.

Next page: Where does your neighbourhood rank?

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Smarchi

If there were not ethnically “similar” cities, countries, regions etc., then we would not have anything to mix into diversity. If we succeed in completely diversifying our neighbourhoods, cities, provinces on up, then eventually wont it all just homogonize into the same culture, language etc? Like mixing all the paint colours together?
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10:33 pm on December 10, 2012

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sean

Diversity-our strength! Yes, if you need strength to murder people.
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7:54 pm on December 10, 2012

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Cynthia

Just want to add that the only reason why they use “mother tongue” rather than “default language” is because they want to make the city seem as diverse as possible. There will be more people who report that they speak English as a default language than as a mother tongue.
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5:07 pm on December 10, 2012

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Cynthia

I’m personally not a fan of the term “mother tongue.” Just because one learned another language first, doesn’t mean that they still speak it on a regular basis! My first language was Cantonese. While I still speak it (enough to get by at restaurants and to understand Hong Kong movies), it isn’t my default language. I cannot read or write the language. I speak English most of the time, including to my family (while they respond back in Cantonese) and definitely THINK in English. I would think that many people in my situation – first generation “Canadian borns” are in the exact same situation. I don’t like being grouped together with people who came to Canada from another country as teens or older adults – people who have had enough schooling to actually functionally read and write their first language.
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4:53 pm on December 10, 2012

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Molly

I’m like you, I learnt Greek as a child but no longer speak it and can’t read or write it. I consider English my mother tongue even though it wasn’t the one I knew first.
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8:40 pm on December 10, 2012
Born Downtown Hos Grew up in York

You “sound” like you have a lot of weird issues. I guess I’m commenting to shatter the illusion. I have the flu today so I don’t care if this comment sounds stupid. I’m not trying to be mean I’m just trying to make a point.

When I read your post, something in between the lines kept trying to jump out at me.

The exclamation point on the, “regular basis”
… no one said mother tongues are something we think in or use on a regular basis so the comment and the emphasis was not necessary.

It feels like you are trying to say something else.
It feels like you jump the gun and are quasi prejudiced because you came in with a false preconceived notion that mother tongue is what’s used regularly.
I will probably sound prejudiced my self by pointing out how you come across.

How dare they say Cantonese is my mother tongue (first language), I speak ENGLISH! -satire

You sound insecure in your Canadian identity and speak as if your Englishness is under attack.

The mother tongue was just used as a measure of cultural diversity, not as a way to discriminate against English Second Languagers.

As for not liking being grouped statistically with immigrants. That’s kind of rude and insensitive. It really doesn’t matter, does it, when they are measuring diversity.
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So what do I see?
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Prejudice and jumping the gun, unnecessary drama, insecurity and rudeness.
A slight air of arrogance again when speaking about how “rich” your neighborhood is.

I think that’s why your post got 4 thumbs down.

I think, not sure, some of the downtown homes near Chinatown are actually worth close to 1 million simply because it’s downtown, as for income levels, I don’t know.
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I commented because when I see someone come across so flawed, It “almost” sounds like a self hater. Self haters usually have very false ideas about a lot of things. Kind of like a feminist extremist *cough* *cough* uoft.

I’m going to be honest, “some” fresh immigrants have a very foreign, often uncool way to socially express themselves and the language barrier and funky accent usually doesn’t make it better. The annoying ones were socially ostracized when I was growing up. Some fresh immigrants adjust totally well, and you wouldn’t really be able to tell them from Canadian Borns.

This is why your dislike of being grouped with them statistically or socially, is almost understandable but rude.

If you had any Pride in who you are, maybe this wouldn’t be an issue. Maybe I have Pride in being a Human being, regardless of what I speak first and second and third and fourth and fifth and where I’m born or where my people come from and that’s why I find your comment so strange.
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1:13 pm on December 11, 2012
Cynthia

@Born Downtown Hos Grew up in York: Why should someone who was educated in English, and can only function minimally in Cantonese be grouped together with someone who has, say, completed Grade 5 or 6 in Chinese? There’s a literacy issue at play here. I can’t read at all, someone who came at age 12 can (even if they can’t write proper essays in Chinese). They might lose some of their literacy, but some of what they learned will stay. In Hong Kong, I am basically illiterate outside of the financial and expat areas, while my parents, who came as adults are not. So how can you possibly group me with my parents? And for the record, I did not grow up downtown. I spent most of my life in North York (mostly in the north central regions (think Bayview Village/Willowdale areas).
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11:49 pm on December 11, 2012
Not Sure

Calm down. No one called you a “FOB”. It seems your whole comment is to disassociate yourself from others you find embarrassing to you. Do some soul searching, girl.
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3:13 pm on December 12, 2012

bizzee

Could someone please forward this to Pauline Marios and tell her that Torontonians are awash in rich languages, with an itty bitty, teensy weensy taste of French thrown in. I’ll try not to panic or be humiliated by it all even though i’m from Shawinigan….really I am.
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3:37 pm on December 10, 2012

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Matt

So if we assume the Linguistic Diversity Index is the right way to measure diversity, do we have any idea of where Toronto ranks globally?

For example, Miami has a higher percentage of foreign-born residents (60%), but because Cuban immigrants dominate it’s arguably not very diverse and its LDI should be fairly low. London England is 32% foreign-born, but its LDI would reflect that its immigrants come from almost everywhere.

It would be interesting to see if the mythical UN endorsement is true after all, at least if LDI is the measurement.
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1:15 pm on December 10, 2012

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James

Shocked Parkdale isn’t listed higher here. It’s incredibly diverse: buddy holly glasses people, the lumberjacks, the lady lumberjacks, the sailors, the lady sailors, the lady sailor lumberjacks with buddy holly glasses, the 19th century pith helmet explorer boyfriends, the Wes Andersonian cordouroy mid-century college professors, the death metal T-shirt grad student types, the ageing 90′s garage rockers, the tattooed stroller moms, the barristas, the other barristas. It’s a dizzying array of diversity.
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12:59 pm on December 8, 2012

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Aaron

Thank you Sir, one of the funniest bits I’ve read in a while!
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7:45 pm on December 8, 2012
A.R.

I didn’t find the comment to be that funny. It’s pointing out that there’s more to diversity than linguistic/ethnic diversity. Gay and straight, academic and factory worker, for instance–that’s social diversity which is significant as well.
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1:27 pm on December 9, 2012
PayorCommute

as a 90s garage rocker i resent the use of ageing. i am not ageing. i’m barely out of my 20s
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2:26 am on December 11, 2012
Damien 74

And yet they all share a common denominator: They’re all white!!
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4:11 pm on December 11, 2012
Reuben

Hey AR,
Q: How many Toronto liberals does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
A: That’s not funny.
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5:27 pm on December 12, 2012

Chris

I’d like to see a measure of the entropy of native tongues of a place.
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2:58 pm on December 7, 2012

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Moby

Because the Caribbean nations are English speaking, a large part of the story is left out in this article.
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2:13 pm on December 7, 2012

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A.R.

Actually, only part of the Caribbean is English speaking. French, Spanish, and Dutch are also spoken, depending on the island. Your point is taken that Caribbean ethnic diversity may be unnoticed when language is used as the point of comparison.
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1:31 pm on December 9, 2012

Aaron

So the poor outer suburbs are where most of the visible minorities can be found and the rich downtown and inner suburbs are where most of the white people live? Who knew???

Somewhat of a reverse Johannesburg.
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1:54 pm on December 7, 2012

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A.R.

Actually, the map doesn’t show downtown to not be ethnically diverse. It’s midtown from about Yonge and Eglinton that appears to be least diverse in terms of language spoken. That’s where you have neighbourhoods like Forest Hill and Lawrence Park. Also, North York and Scarborough are consider inner suburbs, but only parts of them appear to be the most diverse. So if you’re trying to isolate downtown as some sort of exclusive enclave, you’re not being successful at it.
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1:35 pm on December 9, 2012
Aaron

Actually, actually… almost all neighbourhoods in the Northeast, bordering Steeles or in Eastern Scarborough have a visible minority % in the mid-70′s to mid-90′s and an average income of well under $100,000.00. Most downtown neighbourhoods are in the 30% range with incomes of well over $100,000.00 the exceptions being – surprise, surprise – St. James Town, Regent Park and Chinatown. They are by far the most diverse downtown, Coincidentally, they are by far the poorest.

This growing disparity is well documented in the 3 Cities report, among others.
http://www.urbancentre.utoronto.ca/pdfs/curp/tnrn/Three-Cities-Within-Toronto-2010-Final.pdf

You may wish to print and eat the report first. It will be much easier to read whilst your head is so firmly planted up your ass.
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9:47 pm on December 9, 2012
Aaron

Actually, actually, actually… I meant to write ‘in the Northwest, bordering Steeles or in Eastern Scarborough’
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9:58 pm on December 9, 2012
Cynthia

I wouldn’t call the Newtonbrook or Bayview Village areas, “poor.” Some of the homes there are close to or above $1M. #justsayin
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5:17 pm on December 10, 2012
Millef

Aaron, bang on. So much for a multicultural, integrated city. Most everyone knows – and this article effectively attests to – that wealthier, caucasian people live in central areas of the city where they more or less isolate themselves and don’t mix with other ethnicities, contrary to what CTV, Globe , CP 24 and The Star would have you believe. This is majorly class-divided, income stratified city that’s becoming even more so with the recent housing boom.
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7:20 pm on December 10, 2012
Cynthia

Like I said in the other post, Bayview Village and other north-central areas aren’t poor. Homes in the neighbourhood I grew up in are now about $1M.
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10:11 pm on December 10, 2012
Damien 74

Oh, there’s plenty of ghetto downtown too–just start walkin east! Did you know St. Jamestown was once billed as a planned vertical community for young, well educated swinging singletons back in the 60s? Now look at it.

That’s the future of CityPlace.
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4:09 pm on December 12, 2012

Deamalgamation is segregation

Wow! Rob Ford country is so cosmopolitan and downtown Toronto is so very not.
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11:57 pm on December 6, 2012

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Chris

The data here shows downtown is very close to “average” by this measure of diversity. It seems like Rob Ford country was a coalition of very diverse areas and very not diverse areas. (although let’s be honest, even the least diverse area is still pretty diverse relative to many other places on Earth).
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3:00 pm on December 7, 2012

Mar

Is anyone else wondering how this correlates with house prices and average rents?

Also, does this data count multilinguals once only or multiple times?
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7:22 pm on December 6, 2012

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Serge

Well, it’s based on mother tongue, so I guess the question is whether Statcan allows for individuals to report multiple mother tongues.
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11:02 pm on December 6, 2012
David Topping

Statscan doesn’t allow multiple mother tongues—you can only have one: http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2011/ref/dict/pop095-eng.cfm

And remember, your mother tongue is always your mother tongue, for as long as you understand it, whether you speak it actively or not. Someone born in China could have been raised speaking Mandarin, then moved to Canada and never spoken a word of it since. So long as they still know the language, it’s still their mother tongue.
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6:06 pm on December 7, 2012

Julian

Are you Nate Silver? Didn’t think so.
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7:02 pm on December 6, 2012

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Mark

I would be interested to see this analysis run again, after splitting up the “Chinese” group into its component parts. Perhaps by using the relative city-wide proportions for all its derivatives (Mandarin, Cantonese, etc). As it stands, it inflates the “diversity” of any neighbourhood with a significant “Chinese”-reporting population.

i.e.
30% Mandarin, 30% Cantonese, 30% “Chinese”, 10% Chaochow
will appear more diverse than:
43% Mandarin, 43% Cantonese, 14% Chaochow

Newtonbrook West would likely take 2nd place, while Hillcrest Village would fall sevaral places.
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2:28 pm on December 6, 2012

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Mark

Using a horrifically naive assumption that “Chinese” splits into 60% Cantonese, 35% Mandarin, and 5% a third dialect, I quickly pulled together some numbers:

Top increases in position:
LDI NewRank Change Name
81.19% 14 5 Briar Hill-Belgravia
81.54% 13 5 Humber Summit
81.57% 12 5 Mount Olive-Silverstone-Jamestown
80.60% 17 5 North St. James Town
81.59% 11 5 Westminster-Branson
80.09% 19 5 York University Heights

Top drops in position:
LDI NewRank Change Name
74.15% 45 -25 Milliken
75.62% 38 -25 Steeles
78.54% 26 -14 Agincourt North
73.58% 49 -8 Kensington-Chinatown
80.91% 15 -5 Agincourt South-Malvern West

New top ten:
LDI NewRank Change Name
87.75% 1 0 Flemingdon Park
86.30% 2 1 Newtonbrook West
85.55% 3 -1 Don Valley Village
85.51% 4 0 Henry Farm
84.57% 5 1 Newtonbrook East
84.49% 6 -1 Willowdale East
84.08% 7 0 Pleasant View
83.83% 8 3 Thorncliffe Park
83.11% 9 -1 L’Amoreaux

Bottom ten is unchanged.
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3:08 pm on December 6, 2012

Rob

I live in Newtonbrook East, and I have to be honest, it doesn’t feel diverse at all. It just feels like an extension of Markham/Richmond Hill with a heavy Asian population – I knew this when I moved there. Point being – is a place truly diverse when one population is the dominant one?
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12:47 pm on December 6, 2012

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Ken

Rob, no, that’s not how the index works. If there’s only one big mother tongue, then picking two people at random will most likely find they have the same mother tongue (doesn’t matter what it is). Now, there are many different mother tongues in Asia, so a “heavy Asian population” could be very diverse if a whole bunch of different languages are represented. This seems to be the case in Newtonbrook East, where the table shows almost equal numbers of Persian, Korean and one or other flavour of Chinese.

(as a statistician, I like this measure of diversity. I think it comes from the biosciences. It’s related to Simpson’s index, which Wikipedia will tell you about.)
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1:21 pm on December 6, 2012
steve

I like this index too. It shows up everywhere in the quantitative study of diversity. In ecology its sometimes called the probability of interspecific encounter (or PIE). In genetics its sometimes called heterozygocity. In information theory its related to something called second-order Rényi entropy.

I have an important point: There is a trick that everyone should keep in mind when interpreting this index. Here’s an example. In my neighbourhood, the index is about 0.4. A naive interpretation would say that 40% of the people I encounter in a day will have different mother tongue than me. This is probably incorrect. This is because I have a particular mother tongue, whereas the index is averaging over all mother tongues. Therefore, what we learn from the index is that 40% of the people that an average person encounters in a day will have a different mother tongue. So if you aren’t like the average person, than 40% may be very uninformative for you in particular. However, this isn’t the only interpretation difficult. The index also assumes that your mother tongue doesn’t predict the kinds of people you are more likely to encounter. But this is very unlikely to be true. What is more likely is that people who speak the same mother tongue are more likely to hang out with each other. Therefore, the actual diversity that an average person encounters will almost always be less than the index suggests. So: *the index will overestimate diversity*.

But there’s good news! If we all make an effort to become involved with a more diverse segment of the people in our neighborhood, than a high diversity index tells us that we have the *potential* hang out with a wide variety of people. In other words, we have the opportunity in a ‘diverse’ city to have a lot of diversity in our lives…but the numbers alone won’t make that happen…we need to actually take advantage of this opportunity ourselves!

Great article.
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12:42 pm on December 9, 2012