Photo: Óðinn · CC BY-SA 2.5 caAt 7.6 loans per person served, Ottawa Public Library lends more than 91% of Ontario’s town libraries
Ottawa Public Library serves the whole of Ottawa, so the library figures on this page are the city’s: 1,083,550 people, Centretown among them. It counted 3.4 in-person visits per person served in 2024. Ontario counts visits over one typical week and multiplies by 52, so the yearly figure is an estimate.
C+Civic life#498 of 866 in OntarioBehind Centretown’s civic life grade
Civic life in Centretown grades C+: #498 of the 866 towns graded in Ontario. All three civic life inputs exist for Centretown: library visits per resident, charities per 1,000 residents and the provincial volunteering rate.
Informal groups and mutual aid go uncounted.
Sources: provincial statistics, the CRA, Statistics Canada.
Ottawa mailing addresses hold 1,975 registered charities
There is no count for Centretown on its own: the charities are those of all of Ottawa. It works out to 1.7 per 1,000 residents, where the typical Ontario town has 1.4 and Canada’s 1.4. The CRA files each charity under its mailing address, so a service town collects its region’s charities and a suburb or rural municipality few.
32.1%
Across Ontario, 32.1% of people volunteered through an organization in 2023, a provincial estimate with a likely range of 31.0% to 33.2%; the lowest province sits at 25.2% and the highest at 40.3%.
Statistics Canada, table 45-10-0039.
Ahead of most of Ontario’s town libraries on 2 of 3 measures
Per person served, against the 195 town libraries in Ontario’s 2024 statistics.
Town libraries only; regional systems left out.
A typical week brings about 70,779 visits
Everything counted at Ottawa Public Library in 2024: visits, loans and cards.
3 public libraries in Centretown
Nearest first, measured in a straight line from the centre of Centretown.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Library locations. Public library locations are taken from OpenStreetMap and a 2020 Statistics Canada inventory, merged where both list one place.
Questions about the library and civic life in Centretown
Does Centretown have a public library?
Yes, 3: Ottawa Outdoor Gear Library, Ottawa Public Library - Main Branch and Library of Parliament (interim main branch).
How busy is Ottawa Public Library?
In 2024 it logged 3,680,508 in-person visits and 8,205,895 loans.
Library statistics: Ontario Public Library Statistics, 2024. Library locations: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) and Statistics Canada, Open Database of Cultural and Art Facilities (2020). Charities: Canada Revenue Agency, List of charities (2024), charitable organizations only.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).