Immigration — not fertility — driving Canada’s population growth
Immigration — not fertility — driving Canada’s population growth
Nearly 1.8 million more people, mostly immigrants, called Canada home in 2021, compared with five years earlier. (SolStock/canva).
February 10, 2022
By Fabian Dawson
Immigration, not fertility, drove Canada’s population growth over the past five years, says a Statistics Canada study as Ottawa plans to announce its new 2022-2024 immigration intake levels plan.
“Although the pandemic halted Canada’s strong population growth in 2020, it continued to be the fastest among G7 countries,” said the study released on Wednesday.
“Canada is home to almost 37 million people…approximately 1.8 million more people were calling Canada home in 2021 compared with five years earlier, with four in five of these having immigrated to Canada since 2016,” Statistics Canada said, noting that the national fertility rates has been decreasing since 2015.
The report’s authors said immigrants are far more likely to settle in an urban area rather than a rural setting. Consequently, rural Canada’s population has grown at a slower pace than urban centres.
Some of the key findings in today’s report that provides a portrait of Canada’s population growth include:
Population growth accelerated in Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia over the past five years when compared with the previous census cycle (from 2011 to 2016), while population growth slowed in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.
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