Over the past 150 years, the population of Canada has grown steadily. At the time of confederation, in 1867, the nation’s population was about 3.5 million. In the last four decades of the 19th Century, growth was slowed by negative migratory increase, when more people left Canada than arrived.
Population growth was especially robust during the first decade of the 20th Century and during the baby boom (1946 to 1965) when there was strong natural and migratory increase. By the peak of the baby boom, in 1959, the population of the country had increased to close to 17.5 million.
On July 1, 2013, Canada’s population was estimated at 35.2 million, and population growth has gradually slowed in recent decades. In the one year period between July 1, 2012 and June 30, 2013, Canada’s population grew by a rate of 1.2%, mainly due to immigration.
In the coming decades, the population of Canada is expected to continue to increase. According to the medium-growth scenario of the most recent population projections, Canada’s population could reach 52.6 million by 2061. However, population growth could continue to slow as a result of declining natural increase, since the number of deaths is expected to gradually approach the number of births.
