According to the first data released Wednesday morning by Statistics Canada, the Canadian population has grown by 1.8 million individuals since the last national probe, in 2016.
In 2021, Canada had a population of 36,991,981.
« Canada’s population is growing at twice the rate of the United States. »
It is mainly due to immigration that we owe this growth, points out demographer Patrick Charbonneau. In fact, four out of five people who added to the Canadian population between 2016 and 2021 had an immigrant background.
Natural population growth, i.e. births minus deaths, accounts for only 15% of the population growth observed in the country over the past five years.
As expected, the pandemic has had a significant effect on the Canadian demographic curve. After a record growth of 583,000 people (+1.6%) in 2019, the Canadian population experienced its lowest growth rate in a century in 2020.
Hampered by the prolonged closure of borders to try to protect the country from the COVID-19 pandemic, population growth will have been only 0.4% in 2020, a gain of 160,000 people. But even despite the pandemic, Canada’s population growth rate has remained the highest in the G7, Statistics Canada points out.
Maritimes overtake Western provinces
Yukon has experienced the highest national population growth since 2016, with a 12.1% increase in population from 2016 to 2021.
Among the provinces, Prince Edward Island and British Columbia experienced the strongest growth, with increases of 8% and 7.6%, respectively.
« This is the first time since the 1940s that the Maritimes have had a faster rate of growth than the Prairies. »
It is noteworthy that for the first time in almost 70 years, the population of the Maritime provinces has grown faster than that of the Prairies.
On paper, the Maritimes’ population has increased by 4.7% compared to 4.6% in the Prairies over the past five years.
In addition to experiencing a marked increase in immigration, the Maritimes gained in interprovincial migration. More people are moving to the Maritimes to live there than vice versa
, explains demographer Patrick Charbonneau.
This is also the highest population growth in the Maritimes since 1970.
Newfoundland and Labrador, on the other hand, saw its population decrease by 1.8% over the same period.
Demographic weight loss continues in Quebec
Despite a 4.1% increase in its population, which amounted to 8,501,833 at the time of the census, in 2021, Quebec continues to lose demographic weight in Canada compared to other provinces.
In 2021, people living in Quebec accounted for 23% of the Canadian population, up from 23.2% in 2016. This trend observed in the previous 10 censuses is therefore continuing. Quebec’s population growth remains lower than that of the country, which was 5.2% in the spring of 2021.
By comparison, Ontario’s population has grown by 5.8% over the past five years, mainly by doubling the number of immigrants welcomed compared to the previous census.
Quebec is not the only one in this situation, the Atlantic provinces have also lost ground, with a demographic weight that has increased from 6.6% to 6.5% of the Canadian population between the last two censuses.
Canadians are urbanizing
Statistics Canada researchers are finding that more and more Canadians are living in the country’s large metropolitan areas, which are rapidly expanding their territory.
In 2021, 27 of the 37 million people recorded in Canada lived in one of the country’s 41 major urban centres, according to Statistics Canada. To be clear, three out of four Canadians now live in metropolitan areas.
Three-quarters of Canadians now live in the country’s 41 major urban centres.
Photograph: The Canadian Press / Frank Gunn
It is to immigration, once again, that we owe this strong growth of urban centers. “More than 9 out of 10 new permanent immigrants settle in a metropolitan area (CMA),” Statistics Canada notes. A trend that is, however, compensated in large cities by an increase in migration to the suburbs.
If we look at internal migration in the three largest urban centers in Canada, there are more people leaving cities to the periphery […] but in general, immigration succeeds in compensating for these losses
, explains demographer Patrick Charbonneau.
As proof, Statistics Canada points out, CMAin Canada has only experienced a population decrease of2016to2021″,”text”:”for the first time in six censuses, no country in Canada has experienced a population decrease from 2016 to 2021″}}”>for the first time in six censuses, no CMAS in Canada experienced a population decrease from 2016 to 2021
.
As for Montreal and Toronto, the population of both CMA increased similarly between 2016 and 2021, by 4.6%. This puts them well behind the cities of Kelowna, Chilliwack and Kamloops, which have growth rates of 14%, 12.1% and 10% respectively.
Interestingly, for the first time in 25 years, Calgary is no longer one of the top five CMA with the highest population growth rates.
Much slower growth in rural areas
While cities are filling up due to the arrival of tens of thousands of immigrants to the country every year, in rural areas, population growth is significantly less strong.
In May 2021, just over 6.6 million people lived in a rural area of the country, which is 0.4% more than in the previous census, while the growth of urban areas was more than 6.3% over the same period.
As a result, the demographic weight of people living in rural areas continues to decrease in Canada. : it rose from 18.7% in 2016 to 17.8% in 2021″,”text”:”For a ninth consecutive census: it rose from 18.7% in 2016 to 17.8% in 2021″}}”>For the ninth consecutive census, it rose from 18.7% in 2016 to 17.8% in 2021
, can be found in Statistics Canada documents.
However, this decline could have been even more marked had it not been for the arrival of the pandemic, emphasizes the federal agency.
As more Canadians are now able to work from home due to the pandemic, the population of some rural areas has increased, while more people have left urban centres, especially in Quebec and Ontario
, she says