Toronto’s Little India in Residential Context: A Geographical Analysis of Census Data

Ethnic economies are an important part of the today’s global city. We examine Toronto’s Little India and map the corresponding ethnic and Visible Minority population and their residential locations across the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area (CMA). Although past research suggests that ethnic economies are typically accompanied by a local co-ethnic residential population, our study shows that this is not the case for Little India. While the South Asian population around Little India is increasing, it is growing at a slower pace than in some other parts of the Toronto CMA. We identify and examine four major South Asian residential clusters across the Toronto CMA that represent a potential customer base for the businesses of Little India.