This urban area is the most populous on Canada's Atlantic coast, and the second-largest coastal population centre in the country after Vancouver, British Columbia. Metropolitan Halifax currently accounts for over 54 per cent of Nova Scotia's population (2020), and over 13 per cent of Atlantic Canada. Metropolitan Halifax benefits from a process of increased rural depopulation and corresponding urban growth in Atlantic Canada during the late 20th century—a demographic shift that was delayed several decades in the region compared with other parts of North America.