Downtown Vancouver remains a significant employment centre, providing approximately 145,000 jobs in the downtown peninsula. Since 1991, over 5 million square feet of commercial space has been developed in the downtown. Traditional manufacturing, resource-based industries and related office-commercial uses have been succeeded by the emergence of the 'new economy', which is largely centred around commercial and support services, education, and high technology, in addition to more traditional finance, insurance and real estate services.

Downtown Vancouver has seen a dramatic increase in population as new residential neighbourhoods have been developed in the past few years at Coal Harbour, around the north side of False Creek, and in Downtown South. The population of the Downtown peninsula rose by 22,000 in the 1990s to 70,000 in 2001 - the fastest growing Downtown in North America. Another 40,000 people are expected to move Downtown by 2021.

Transportation investments in rapid transit such as the Expo, Millennium and future RAV line will provide even greater accessibility to the region's metropolitan core and increased connectivity to the regional town centres.

As well as the region's largest shopping area, Downtown Vancouver has an entertainment core (museums and galleries, theatres, cinemas, clubs and bars clustered around Granville Street) and the sports stadiums at BC Place and GM Place. Since 1985, 3,800 hotel rooms have been constructed in the downtown to support the thriving tourism and convention industries. A major expansion is planned for the cruise ship terminal at Canada Place and the Convention Centre in the next few years.

The University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University and the British Columbia Institute of Technology all have campuses downtown, and join language schools and specialist education providers like the Vancouver Film School. Two major hospitals, St Paul's and Vancouver General Hospital, are located in the Central Area, while health and medical research organisations cluster along the Broadway corridor and in the False Creek Flats to the south east of Downtown.

The Centre of Greater Vancouver makes up the Region's Metropolitan Core, and contains two-thirds of the region's office space.