of Quebec between 1951 and 1991. This decline is due to structural issues like the rationalization of agriculture and the depletion of the forests, but also to rural flight and a sinking natality since the 1960s. Population Bas-Saint-Laurent was home to 200,500 inhabitants on the first of July 2011, which represents 2.5% of the total population of Quebec. This number indicates that this share has dropped by 4% since 1996. More than 40% of the population of the region lives in two RCMs, Rimouski-Neigette (55,364 inhabitants in 2011) and Rivière-du-Loup (34,326 inhabitants in 2011). Since 1951, the region has seen its population stagnate or slightly decline. This is due to two opposing factors, the decline of rural areas and the reinforcement of urban areas, like Rimouski and Rivière-du-Loup. The share of these two towns alone went from 16% of the total population of the region in 1951 to 34% in 2001. The new importance of these urban centres explain the fact that only their RCMs have had a population increase between 1951 and 2001. Opposite to these, RCMs devoid of a strong urban centre, like La Matapédia, Témiscouata and Les Basques, have been the RCMs where the population has dropped the most in the region. Accounting for the population decrease observed since 1951, even when Quebec's population has increased by 82%, it is not surprising that the share of the population of Quebec living in Bas-Saint-Laurent has decreased from 5.2% in 1951 to 2.8% in 2001. Age The population of Bas-Saint-Laurent is significantly older than the population of Quebec as a whole. In 2011, the average age of the population of Bas-Saint-Laurent was 47.3 years, making it the second oldest province of Quebec by that criterion, behind neighboring Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine (49.0 years) and just before the region in third place, Mauricie (47.2). The share of youths under the age of 20 is also one of the lowest of Quebec, at 19.5%, compared to the average of 21.7%. As is the case for data on population, the data on the age of said population shows a clear divide between the two urban RCMs and the rural ones. The RCM Les Basques sees an important aging of its population and has the lowest share of youths between 0 and 19 years old (17.5), the population over 65 years old has the largest share (25.6%), and the average age of 51 years is the