Ontario is a province of Canada, located in Central Canada and forming the country’s southernmost province. It is the most populous province in Canada, with more than 14 million residents as of the 2021 Canadian census, and it contains about 38.5% of the national population. Ontario is also the second-largest province by total area, after Quebec, and the fourth-largest jurisdiction among Canada’s provinces and territories.
The province is bordered by Manitoba to the west, Hudson Bay and James Bay to the north, and Quebec to the east and northeast. Its southern border with the United States runs along Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York (state), with much of the boundary following rivers and lakes in the Great Lakes system. Ontario has only a small amount of actual land border with the United States.
Ontario’s provincial capital is Toronto, the country’s most populous city, while Ottawa, the national capital of Canada, is also located in the province. Most of Ontario’s people and arable land are concentrated in Southern Ontario, where agriculture remains important and manufacturing is a major part of the economy. By contrast, Northern Ontario is more sparsely populated, colder, and heavily forested, with mining and forestry as key industries.