﻿ Vancouver Guide - Climate, Education, Quality and cost of living, Sports and Recreation

Vancouver Guide

Vancouver is a coastal city located in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is named for British Captain George Vancouver, who explored and first mapped the area in the 1790s.

The metropolitan area is the most populous in Western Canada and third-largest in the country, with Vancouver itself ranking eighth among Canadian cities. According to the 2006 census Vancouver had a population of 578,041, and just over 2.1 million people resided in its metropolitan area. Over the last 30 years, immigration has dramatically increased, making the city more ethnically and linguistically diverse; 52% do not speak English as their first language. Almost 30% of the city's inhabitants are of Chinese heritage.



Winters in Greater Vancouver are the fourth mildest of Canadian cities. Vancouver has daily minimum temperatures below freezing for an average of 46 days per year and below −10 °C (14.0 °F) on two days per year. On average, 4.5 days a year have temperatures staying below freezing.


There are five public universities in the Greater Vancouver area, the largest being the University of British Columbia (UBC) and Simon Fraser University (SFU), with a combined enrollment of more than 80,000 undergraduates, graduates, and professional students in 2008. In 2006, UBC was ranked 27th best university in the world by Newsweek magazine, and SFU ranked as the best comprehensive university in Canada by Maclean's University Rankings in 2009. The other public universities are Capilano University, the Emily Carr University of Art and Design, and Kwantlen Polytechnic University.

The Canadian College and other colleges in the surrounding areas of Metro Vancouver provide career, trade, and university-transfer programs.

Quality and cost of living

Vancouver has been ranked one of the most livable cities in the world for more than a decade. As of 2010, Vancouver has been ranked as having the 4th highest quality of living of any city on Earth. In contrast, according to Forbes, Vancouver had the 6th most overpriced real estate market in the world and was second-highest in North America after Los Angeles in 2007. Along with Toronto, Vancouver has also been ranked among Canada's most expensive cities in which to live. Forbes has also ranked Vancouver as the tenth cleanest city in the world.

Sports and Recreation

