Quarterly Demographic Estimates
July to September 2021

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Release date: December 21, 2021

Highlights

Third quarter of 2021

• Canada’s population was estimated at 38,436,447 on October 1, 2021, an increase of 190,339 people (+0.5%) from July 1, 2021. This was the second highest quarterly growth seen in Canada, after the third quarter of 2019 (+210,169, +0.6%) and shows a return to pre-pandemic levels of growth.
• The population increased in all provinces and territories, with stronger third quarter growth rates in the Atlantic provinces than in the recent past: Newfoundland and Labrador (+0.2%), Prince Edward Island (+1.0%), Nova Scotia (+0.7%), and New Brunswick (+0.6%). This was the highest growth for Nova Scotia in any quarter since the beginning of the current demographic accounting system (third quarter 1971). This growth was due to both international and interprovincial migration.
• Quebec (+0.3%), Ontario (+0.6%), Manitoba (+0.2%), Alberta (+0.5%), and British Columbia (+0.7%) all had the highest level of growth since either the third or fourth quarters of 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic began to have a demographic impact in Canada (March 2020).
• Deaths in the third quarter of 2021 (71,518) were the highest ever recorded in a third quarter. The Public Health Agency of Canada reported 1,577 deaths due to COVID-19 in the third quarter of 2021, more than twice as many deaths than during the same period last year (721). Deaths during this period were 6.7% higher than during the third quarter of 2019 (67,033), before the pandemic. This increase is due to COVID-19 as well as population aging.
• International migration (+165,446) was at its second highest point ever recorded, being surpassed only by that of the third quarter of 2019 (+177,268).
• Canada welcomed 122,748 immigrants in the third quarter of 2021, the highest number of immigrants in any quarter for the period with comparable data (since 1946). This represents an 18.3% increase over the second highest quarter (third quarter of 2019, 103,719) and a 206.0% increase from the third quarter of 2020 (40,116) when border restrictions were in effect to curb to spread of the virus.
• Due to the crisis in Afghanistan, Canada began to welcome Afghans in the third quarter of 2021, but even without this, immigration would have shown record highs. This was due to two main factors: the easing of COVID-19 related border restrictions and more people already in Canada being granted permanent residency.
• The net increase in non-permanent residents (+60,987), mainly due to study permit holders, was the highest since the third quarter of 2019 (+79,995), before the COVID-19 pandemic began. All provinces and territories welcomed more non-permanent residents than those who left, except for the Northwest Territories (-29).
• The number of people who moved to another province or territory in the third quarter of 2021 (94,248) was at the highest level in a third quarter since 2007 (99,163).
• All four Atlantic provinces had net gains from interprovincial migration for the first time in a third quarter since 2009, with these gains mainly due to exchanges with Ontario.
• Outside of the Atlantic provinces, only Alberta (+4,489) and British Columbia (+5,777) had net gains from interprovincial migration. Alberta’s net gain followed five quarters of net losses. The net losses in Manitoba (-3,877) and Saskatchewan (-3,367) were their highest on record in about 30 years.

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