Over one year, immigration has led to Canada’s largest population growth.
The population of Canada grew by 531,497 people to 37,589,262 people between July 2018 and July 2019, with immigration accounting for 82.2% of the growth. The natural population growth rate was only 17.8%.
The population grew by 1.4% over the 12 months — the highest figure since 1990. This is also the highest rate among all G7 countries, more than double the figure of 0.6% in both the US and the UK.
Within 12 months, Canada welcomed 313,580 immigrants — this is one of the highest annual immigration rates in history. Even though more immigrants were accepted in 2015/2016 (323,192 people), the recent figure includes almost 30,000 Syrian refugees.
The number of non-permanent residents increased by 171,536 in 2018/2019, marking the largest increase in Canadian history. The growth was due to temporary workers, students, and asylum seekers.
Some provinces in Canada have seen an unprecedented population growth. The highest rate in the country was recorded in Prince Edward Island (2.2%). An increase of 1.2% in Quebec was the largest in 30 years. A significant increase of 1.7% was also seen in Ontario, and Alberta saw an increase of 1.6%, partly due to positive migration between the provinces.
The only exceptions were Northwest Territories (–0.3%) and Newfoundland and Labrador, which reported a population decline for the third year in a row — this time by 0.8%.