Between 2001 and 2006, Canada’s population grew by 1.6 million, which translates to a growth rate of 5.4%. That is slightly higher than the rate for the period between the 1996 and 2001 censuses of 4.0%. An increase in international immigration was responsible for the acceleration of Canada’s growth rate over the last five years. Since 2001, an average of about 240,000 newcomers arrive in Canada each year, a total of 1.2 million immigrants in five years.
Despite its recent increase, Canada’s population growth rate remains much lower than it was 50 years ago. Between 1956 and 1961, the population expanded by 13.4%, roughly three times faster than in the last five years. The post-baby boom decline in fertility and the increase in deaths due to population aging have both played a role in slowing the pace of population growth substantially. The brief reversal of this trend that occurred in the late 1980s was due to an increase in immigration which coincided with a slight rise in fertility.
Canada experienced rapid population growth higher than any other G8 country in the five years leading up to the 2006 Census. While the number of Canadians increased by 5.4%, the growth rate was 3.1% in Italy and France, 1.9% in the United Kingdom and nearly zero in Japan and Germany. During the same period, Russia’s population shrank by 2.4%.
The growth rate has risen since 2001 in every Canadian province except Prince Edward Island, where it was unchanged, and Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador, where it is still negative. Two-thirds (66%) of Canada’s population growth between 2001 and 2006 was concentrated in just two provinces: Alberta and Ontario. They were also the only two provinces that had a growth rate higher than the national average. Growth also exceeded the national average in the three Territories.
The population of the Atlantic Provinces remained virtually unchanged, slipping slightly from 2,285,729 in 2001 to 2,284,779 in 2006. As a proportion of Canada’s total population, however, the population of the Atlantic Provinces dropped from 7.6% to 7.2% between 2001 and 2006, as other parts of the country grew more rapidly. Nova Scotia remains the most populous of the Atlantic Provinces. The 2001 to 2006 period experienced a population growth of 0.6%, while Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick experienced virtually no change in population and Newfoundland and Labrador experienced a decline in population growth.
Quebec's population grew three times faster between 2001 and 2006 (4.3%) than in the previous intercensal period (+1.4%).The difference between Quebec’s population growth and the national average of 5.4% was also the smallest in 40 years. The upswing was due to an increase in international migration and to smaller net losses in migration exchanges with other provinces.
Half of Canada`s population growth between 2001 and 2006 occurred in Ontario with a increase of 1.6 million people. Alberta aside, Ontario was the only other province with a growth rate (+6.6%) above the national average (+5.4%). International immigration, from which Ontario benefits significantly, is responsible for much of this growth.
The Prairie Provinces' share of the country's total population increased slightly in the last five years from 16.9% to 17.1%.Close to 95% of the Prairie Provinces’ population growth between 2001 and 2006 took place in Alberta, which was the fastest-growing Canadian province during this period. Manitoba accounted for the rest of the growth, as Saskatchewan’s population shrank between 2001 and 2006. The number of Albertans increased by 10.6% between 2001 and 2006 double the national growth rate of 5.4%, while Manitoba experienced a growth rate of 2.6 %. Similar to last census, Saskatchewan once again experienced a decline in population of 1.1%. This is the second time in 50 years that Saskatchewan’s population decreased in two consecutive intercensal periods.
The growth of British Columbia’s population between 2001 and 2006 (+5.3%) increased slightly from the previous intercensal period (+4.9%). International immigration remains the principal factor in the province’s population growth, as it has one of the lowest fertility rates in the country. The Provincial population went over the 4 million mark between 2001 and 2006 and represents 13.0% of Canada’s population.
The population living in the three territories surpassed 100,000 for the first time. With a population of 41,464 in the 2006 Census, the Northwest Territories is the most populous of the three. Due to improvements in migration exchanges with the provinces, The Yukon Territory experienced a strong growth in population (5.9%) during the 2001 to 1006 period, as did the Northwest Territories (11.0%) and Nunavut (10.2%). Nunavut saw an upswing in its natural increase in the 2001 to 2006 period, as its fertility rate was twice the national average (3.1 versus 1.5 children per woman) since 2001.
Most of Canada’s population growth since 2001 has taken place in urban areas rather than in rural areas (areas located outside urban centres with a population of at least 10,000). Since 2001, the population of Canada’s census metropolitan areas (CMAs) grew by 1.4 million, which represents nearly 90% of the 1.6 million increase in the country’s total population over that period. Since 2001, large metropolitan areas have experienced a population growth of 6.9%, compared with 5.4% for Canada as a whole. In contrast Canada’s population in small towns and rural areas grew by only 1.0% between 2001 and 2006, after declining by 0.4% in the previous intercensal period. In 2006, just under 20% of Canadians (6.0 million people) were living in rural areas, while 21.5 million Canadians (68%) lived in one of the 33 census metropolitan areas. Of these, 14.1 million lived in one of the six metropolitan areas with a population of more than 1 million: Toronto, Montréal, Vancouver, Ottawa-Gatineau, and for the first time, Calgary and Edmonton. Together, these six areas were home to nearly half (45%) of all Canadians. Toronto, which passed the 5 million mark for the first time, remained the most populous CMA followed by Montréal and Vancouver.
In 2006, nearly half of all Canadians, 13.9 million people, were living in the country’s three largest urban areas: the Montréal census metropolitan area, the Vancouver census metropolitan area, and the Greater Golden Horseshoe in southern Ontario. Between 2001 and 2006, the population growth of these areas represented more than half of Canada’s total population growth (+1.6 million). This growth rate (+7.3%) was above the national average (+5.4%) for the period. The population growth is largely due to international immigration along with the pull these large urban areas exert on the younger working age adults from other parts of the country who are likely to move there for economic reasons.
Between 2001 and 2006, fifteen census metropolitan areas had a higher rate of population growth than the national average. Of these, six are in southern Ontario and located in the Greater Golden Horseshoe region: Barrie (+19.2%), Oshawa (+11.6%), Toronto (+9.2%), Kitchener (+8.9%), Guelph (+8.2%) and Brantford (+5.5%). Barrie is the fastest-growing CMA since 2001, as its population increased nearly four times more rapidly than the national average.
Alberta’s two CMAs Calgary and Edmonton also experienced vigorous growth since 2001. Calgary’s population grew by 13.4% between 2001 and 2006, the second-highest growth rate among CMAs. Edmonton was the fourth fastest-growing CMA in the country (+10.4%). British Columbia’s four CMAs, Vancouver (+6.5%), Victoria, Abbotsford and Kelowna also outpaced the national rate of population growth between 2001 and 2006.
The Ottawa - Gatineau CMA, which straddles the Quebec-Ontario border, also experienced a population growth (+5.9%) slightly above the national average in the 2001 to 2006 period. The Quebec part of the CMA, Gatineau, grew faster (+8.5%) than the Ontario portion, Ottawa (+5.0%). Sherbrooke is the only CMA located entirely in Quebec whose growth rate (+6.3%) was above the national average, while Moncton is the only CMA in the Atlantic Provinces whose growth rate (+6.5%) was above the national average (+5.4%).