A FEW OF BC'S VITAL STATISTICS

Total area of BC: 947,800 sq km

2006 population: 4,113,487 (13% of Canadian population; third most populous province)

Percentage of population living in Lower Mainland and Southern Vancouver Island: 70%

Length of the coastline: 27,200 km (including shorelines of islands)

Number of national parks: 6

Number of provincial parks: about 550 (new ones are being created all the time)

Largest provincial park: Tweedsmuir (9,742.46 sq km)

Three highest mountains: Mt Fairweather (4,663 m); Mt Quincy Adams (4,133 m); Mt Waddington (4,019 m)

Highest point on Vancouver Island: Golden Hinde (2,200 m)

Size of Vancouver Island: 31,284 sq km

Population of Vancouver Island (2006): 704,634

BC's aboriginal population (2006): 196,075 (4.7% of total population)

Three highest waterfalls: Della Falls (440 m); Takakkaw Falls (254 m); Hunlen Falls (253 m)

Length of the Trans-Canada Hwy in BC: 961 km

Three longest rivers: Fraser R (1,399 km); Columbia R (763 km in BC); Skeena R (621 km)

Official bird: Steller's jay

Official motto: Splendor sine occasu

Official tree: red cedar

Official flower: Pacific dogwood

Official stone: BC jade

Wettest spot: Henderson Lake (8,997.1 mm of rain in 1997)

Tallest tree: the Carmanah Giant, a 95.8 m Sitka spruce

Three largest natural lakes entirely in BC: Babine Lk (495 sq km); Kootenay Lk (407 sq km); Ootsa Lk (404 sq km)

Lowest recorded temperature: -58.9 degrees C, Smith River, 1947

Highest recorded temperature: 44.4 degrees C, Lytton, 1941

Total length of paved roads (2000): 23,710 km

Number of registered motor vehicles (2006): 2,586,000

Highest paved road in BC: Highway 3 at Kootenay Pass (el 1,774 m), between Salmo and Creston