Prior to European arrival in the region, the areas along the Ottawa River were commonly used by various tribes to trade and gather.

The settlement quickly became involved in the lumber trade, which continued along the Ottawa River until the late 20th century.

Longer-term projections show that the region's population will expand faster than Quebec's for each following five-year period.

Historically, the Outaouais area averaged positive inter-regional migration balances, gaining 541 residents each year for a net rate of +0.14% from 2016 to 2021.

The negative gap between the region's participation rate and that of Quebec narrowed from 1.0 to 0.4 percentage points.

In 2021, this trend continued; the unemployment rate decreased by 2.5 percentage points to 5.6%, compared to 6.1% for Quebec as a whole.

The tertiary sector's percentage of total employment (86.1%) is substantially larger than that reported in Quebec overall (79.7%).