About 5 231 500 people reported to the 2001 Census that they were bilingual, compared with 4 841 300 five years earlier, an 8.1% increase. In 2001, these individuals represented 17.7% of the population, up from 17.0% in 1996. Nationally, 43.4% of francophones reported that they were bilingual, compared with 9.0% of anglophones. Within Quebec, the growth in the bilingualism rate from 1996 to 2001 was even greater than in the previous five-year period. In 2001, two out of every five individuals (40.8%) reported that they were bilingual, compared with 37.8% in 1996 and 35.4% in 1991.