Madawaska County (2021 population 32,603), also known as the "New Brunswick Panhandle", is located in northwestern New Brunswick, Canada. 94% of the countyâÂÂs population speaks French (88% as first language, 6.1% as second language). Its Francophone population are known as "Brayons." Forestry is the major industry in the county.
The first inhabitants of what is now called Madawaska County were the Maliseet or Wolastoqiyik, who occupied and used the land along the Saint John River Valley north to the St. Lawrence River and south to the Penobscot River. There is debate concerning the true origin of the word "Madawaska". The earliest settlers were from Quebec. The area was the focus of the bloodless Aroostook War, a border dispute led by businessman and political activist John Baker.
The earliest settlers of the Upper Saint John River Valley have been clearly verified, with census results of the Madawaska region taken in 1820 showing where most families had originated from Quebec.
There are ten municipalities within Madawaska County (listed by 2016 population):
There is one First Nations reserve in Madawaska County (listed by 2016 population):
The county is subdivided into fourteen parishes (listed by 2016 population):
As a census division in the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Madawaska County had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.
Highways and numbered routes that run through the county, including external routes that start or finish at the county limits:
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