Annual Demographic Estimates: Subprovincial Areas, July 1, 2018
Section 2: Census divisions

Census divisions (CDs) with the highest growth rates in the past year

• Between July 1, 2017 and June 30, 2018 (2017/2018), the population increased in 194 of Canada’s 293 CDs (66.2%), decreased in 79 CDs (27.0%) and continued to be relatively stable in the remaining 20 (6.8%).
• The CDs which showed growth have a larger population size than those that stayed stable or declined. The average population size for those that increased was 175,608, while the average population size for those CDs that decreased or stayed stable was 30,212.

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• Eight of the 10 top growing CDs in 2017/2018 were in Quebec or Ontario, the two largest provinces, which is up from 4 out of the top 10 in 2016/2017. In the last four years, the top ten growing CDs have been increasingly located in either Quebec or Ontario, in contrast with the Prairies CDs the three years before.
• The Mirabel CD (Que.) had the highest growth rate in Canada at 39.8 per thousand in 2017/2018. The Mirabel CD has been the fastest growing CD for three of the past four years. Most of the gains in the Mirabel CD came from intraprovincial migration. Mirabel is located on the outskirts of Montréal, Quebec’s most populous CD. Most of the intraprovincial net migration for Mirabel came from the nearby suburban CDs of Thérèse-De Blainville, Laval, Deux-Montagnes and Montréal, which are located around Mirabel.
• The top three fastest growing CDs were in the province of Quebec. Mirabel CD is in the Montreal CMA while Les Jardins-de-Napierville is adjacent to the Montreal CMA. L’Île-d’Orléans CD^{Note 1}is in the Quebec CMA. Growth in the Les Jardins-de-Napierville and L’Île-d’Orléans CDs came mostly from an influx of non-permanent residents^{Note 2}. Les Jardins-de-Napierville CD also saw an increase in the number of new residents from other parts of the province.
• The only top 10 fastest growing CDs in Canada in 2017/2018 outside Quebec or Ontario were Baffin (Nvt.), the seventh fastest growing CD, and Queens (PEI), the ninth fastest growing CD. In 2016/2017, Queens (PEI) was the second fastest growing CD. In the Baffin CD, which contains Iqaluit, most of the gains came from strong natural increase, or many more births than deaths. It had the third highest rate of growth from natural increase in the country (19.7 per thousand). The Queens CD, which contains the Charlottetown CA, had the fourth highest rate of growth from international migration in the country (29.3 per thousand).
• The Toronto CD, the largest CD in Canada, was the fourth fastest growing in Canada in 2017/2018, despite large losses to intraprovincial migration (-32,567 people), mostly to nearby suburban CDs of York, Peel and Durham. Most of the gains came from international migration: 90,865 people, the second highest rate of international migration in the country (31.2 per thousand).
• As in 2016/2017, only 2 of the 19 CDs in Alberta had a growth rate higher than that for Canada overall (14.1 per thousand). Those were Division No. 11 (20.0 per thousand), containing the Edmonton CMA, and Division No. 6 (17.4 per thousand), containing the Calgary CMA. In both of these CDs, natural increase and international migration were the main causes of population growth.
• For the first time since 2014/2015, Division No. 16, including Wood Buffalo CA (where the Fort McMurray population centre is found), Alta, had low but positive growth in 2017/2018 (0.5 per thousand). This contrasts with the previous three years when the region recorded negative growth (-28.0 per thousand on average). Natural increase (+1,204) and international migration (+703), just offset losses to intraprovincial migration (-1,850) in 2017/2018. 
• Population growth and economic trends are often related. For example, population growth in Alberta during the two most recent periods is consistent with Alberta’s recent economic trends. From July 2014 to July 2017, the unemployment rate rose 3.2 percentage points to 7.7%. This is in contrast to the most recent year, in which the unemployment rate decreased 1.0 percentage point to 6.7%^{Note 3}.

• Of the CDs that decreased in size the most, eight were in the Atlantic provinces^{Note 4}or the Northwest Territories.
• Stikine (B.C.) was the CD with the largest rate of population loss (-27.8 per thousand), while it had the second highest rate of population loss in 2016/2017 (-49.4 per thousand). Most of the loss in Stikine came from intraprovincial and interprovincial migration. However, the small population of this CD makes the annual growth rate more unstable.
• The losses in the Northwest Territories (Region 2 and Region 5) in 2017/2018 were mainly due to interprovincial migration. Region 2 had the highest rate of population loss to interprovincial migration (-26.2 per thousand) in Canada, while Region 5 had the fourth highest (-18.7 per thousand).
• The losses in Newfoundland and Labrador (Division No. 2, Division No. 3, Division No. 8, and Division No. 9), Guysborough, NS, and Victoria, NB were mainly due to negative natural increase, or more deaths than births, and to intraprovincial migration.
• The losses in La Haute-Côte-Nord (Que.) were due to intraprovincial migration.

The youngest and oldest census divisions

• The median age in Canada in 2017/2018 was 40.8 years. Of 47 CDs in the Atlantic provinces, only 4 (8.5%) had a population younger than this: Division No. 10 (37.9 years) and Division No. 11 (33.8 years) in Newfoundland and Labrador, Halifax in Nova Scotia (40.0 years) and Sunbury in New Brunswick (37.2 years).
• In Quebec, 10 out of 98 CDs (10.2%) had a median age younger than Canada’s (40.8 years). In Ontario, 11 CDs out of 49 (22.4%) had a median age younger than Canada as a whole. In British Columbia, among all 29 CDs, 8 (27.6%) had a median age younger than Canada’s. However, in the Prairie provinces,^{Note 5}60.0% of all CDs (or 36 out of 60 CDs) had a median age younger than 40.8 years.
• None of the 10 CDs in the territories had a median age older than Canada’s. The highest was Yukon (Y.T.) at 38.9 years.

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• Each of the top 10 youngest CDs in Canada in 2017/2018 (by percentage aged 0 to 14) were in the Territories, Manitoba, or the northern parts of Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Quebec.
• In these CDs, between 41% and 95% of the population have an Aboriginal identity.^{Note 6}People with an aboriginal identity have a higher fertility rate than non-aboriginal Canadians, making the populations younger on average.^{Note 7}
• Nine of the 10 youngest CDs in Canada were also among the top ten CDs with the highest rates of natural increase (more births than deaths, except for Region 3 in the Northwest Territories).
• The top 10 youngest CDs in Canada from 2017/2018 were also the top ten youngest in 2016/2017.

• Of the 10 oldest CDs in Canada in 2017/2018 (based on the percentage aged 65 and over), 6 were in Ontario and Quebec.
• The second oldest CD in 2017/2018, Guysborough (N.S.) also had the fifth highest rate of population decrease. It had the third highest rate loss to natural increase (-9.5 per thousand) in Canada.
• Five of the top 10 oldest CDs in Canada (Haliburton, Ont.; Guysborough, N.S.; Okanagan-Similkameen, B.C.; Queens, N.B.; and La Haute-Gaspésie, Que.) were also in the top ten highest losses to natural increase (more deaths than births).
• On July 1 2018, more than one third (33.3%) of Haliburton (Ont.) population were seniors, the highest percentage of people aged 65 years and over among all CDs. This is the first time a CD surpasses the 33% threshold. Haliburton also had the highest median age in Canada (57.8 years) and was the CD with the highest growth rate from intraprovincial migration (27.7 per thousand).