Immigration drives population growth in Canada

Immigration continues to drive population growth in Canadian provinces between April and July this year. This quarter recorded the highest population growth ever in Canada.

There was an increase of 181,057 in Canada’s population in the quarter from April to July. Canada’s population was estimated to be 37,589,262 as of 1^st July 2019.

As per Statistics Canada, the April-July quarter population growth was the second-highest in absolute numbers in the last 48 years. Immigration was the main driver of the population growth and was responsible for 85% of the growth in this quarter.

A record 94,281 immigrants arrived in Canada in the second quarter of 2019.

Between April and July, all provinces in Canada and Yukon Territory recorded positive net migration.

Prince Edward Island saw the highest population growth among the Canadian provinces. As per Statistics Canada, PEI recorded the most “rapid population growth” in the country. There was an increase of 0.8% in the population growth of PEI during the April-July quarter. Immigration accounted for 78.4% of the population growth in the province of Prince Edward Island.

Yukon Territory witnessed the second-highest population growth during the same period. The population in Yukon increased by 0.6% in the April-July quarter. Immigration accounted for 62% of the total population growth in the territory.

Net international migration contributed even more to the population growth in Ontario and Quebec between April and July. Immigration was responsible for 85.5% of population growth in Ontario and 87.1% in Quebec.

Immigration was also largely responsible for the increase in population in British Columbia and Alberta. 78.2% of the population growth of British Columbia was due to immigration. Immigration accounted for 61.1% of the population growth in Alberta.

As per Statistics Canada, international immigration also helped offset the interprovincial migration losses for Saskatchewan and Manitoba. 2802 immigrants from Manitoba and 2719 from Saskatchewan moved to other provinces. However, due to international migration both these provinces positive population growth.

In Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, immigration also helped recover from negative natural increase. There were more deaths in these provinces than births. However, immigration helped Nova Scotia close the quarter at 0.5% increase in population growth. Immigration also helped population growth increase by 0.4% in New Brunswick.

Newfoundland and Labrador also saw an increase in international immigration. However, the province ended up with negative population growth as the province recorded a higher number of deaths than births. Also, many immigrants moved to other provinces thereby causing the negative population growth.

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