CANADIAN The population grew at nearly double the rate of all other G7 countries from 2016 to 2021, rising 5.2% from 2016 to just under 37 million people in 2021, according to Statistics Canada.
Although the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020 halted Canada’s rapid population growth, it remained the fastest among G7 countries.
While the pandemic slowed the movement of people around the world, immigration still contributed to Canada’s population growth of 0.4% in 2020, the fastest pace of growth in the G7 for periods. similar. For comparison, the population of the United States increased by 0.1% from July 1, 2020 to July 1, 2021.
As in most other G7 countries, Canada’s population growth from 2016 to 2021 was largely attributable to immigration, accounting for almost four-fifths of the population gain over this period, while one-fifth was attributable to immigration. natural increase (i.e. the number of births minus the number of deaths).
The rate of natural increase decreased from 0.3% in 2016 to 0.1% in 2021, the lowest level ever recorded. Although Canada’s rate of natural increase is low, unlike most other G7 countries, it is not expected to turn negative (more deaths than births) over the next 50 years. The populations of Italy and Japan are already declining due to more deaths than births and low immigration rates.
However, the pandemic has not only slowed the arrival of immigrants from other countries, but it may also have had an impact on fertility rates. A recent study suggests that one-fifth of Canadian adults under 50 wish to have fewer children than planned or are delaying having children due to the pandemic. Before the pandemic, fertility in Canada had been declining since 2015 and hit a record low of 1.4 children per woman in 2020.
Canada’s population growth ranked seventh in the G20 from 2016 to 2021, behind Saudi Arabia, Australia, South Africa, Turkey, Indonesia and Mexico and tied with the India.
| Population in 2011 | Population in 2016 | Population in 2021 | 2011 to 2016 Population growth rate | 2016 to 2021 Population growth rate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| number | number | number | % | % | |
| Canada | 33,476,688 | 35,151,728 | 36,991,981 | 5.0 | 5.2 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 514 536 | 519 716 | 510 550 | 1.0 | -1.8 |
| Prince Edward Island | 140 204 | 142,907 | 154,331 | 1.9 | 8.0 |
| New Scotland | 921 727 | 923 598 | 969 383 | 0.2 | 5.0 |
| New Brunswick | 751 171 | 747 101 | 775,610 | -0.5 | 3.8 |
| Quebec | 7,903,001 | 8,164,361 | 8,501,833 | 3.3 | 4.1 |
| Ontario | 12,851,821 | 13,448,494 | 14,223,942 | 4.6 | 5.8 |
| Manitoba | 1,208,268 | 1,278,365 | 1,342,153 | 5.8 | 5.0 |
| Saskatchewan | 1,033,381 | 1,098,352 | 1,132,505 | 6.3 | 3.1 |
| alberta | 3,645,257 | 4,067,175 | 4,262,635 | 11.6 | 4.8 |
| British Columbia | 4,400,057 | 4,648,055 | 5,000,879 | 5.6 | 7.6 |
| yukon | 33,897 | 35,874 | 40,232 | 5.8 | 12.1 |
| Northwest Territories | 41,462 | 41,786 | 41,070 | 0.8 | -1.7 |
| Nunavut | 31,906 | 35,944 | 36,858 | 12.7 | 2.5 |
Sources):
CANADA has continued to urbanize since the 2016 Census, with the rate of population growth in urban centers outpacing growth elsewhere.
In 2021, Canada had 41 census metropolitan areas (CMAs) with populations over 100,000, up from 35 in the previous census and further evidence of Canada’s growing urbanization. The six new major urban centers are Fredericton, Drummondville, Red Deer, Kamloops, Chilliwack and Nanaimo. Nearly 27.3 million people, or almost three out of four Canadians, lived in a CMA at the time of the census.
More than a third of Canadians (13.1 million people) live in the three largest CMAs of Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.
Toronto (6,202,225 people) remains the most populous CMA, followed by Montreal (4,291,732 people) and Vancouver (2,642,825 people).
Three other CMAs had a population of over one million in 2021. Ottawa–Gatineau (1,488,307 people) regained fourth place after temporarily losing that title in 2016 to Calgary (1,481,806 people) , which fell to fifth place but remains the most populous CMA in Alberta. Edmonton (1,418,118 inhabitants) remained the sixth largest CMA in the country.