Annual Demographic Estimates: Canada, Provinces and Territories, 2018 (Total Population only)

Highlights

• On July 1, 2018, Canada’s population was estimated at 37,058,856, up 518,588 in the past year (2017/2018).
• An increase of this magnitude has not been seen since 1956/1957 (+529,200), a period characterized by the height of the baby boom and an influx of several thousand Hungarian immigrants.
• Canada’s population growth rate of 1.4% last year was the highest since the early 1990s.
• In 2017/2018, Canada’s population growth remained the highest among all G7 countries.
• Last year, Canada’s international migratory increase was the highest ever recorded (+412,747), surpassing the peak of 320,750 set in 2016/2017.
• The high number of both immigrants (+303,257) and net non‑permanent residents^{Note 1} (+165,729) was largely behind the rapid increase in Canada’s population.
• In 2017/2018, international migratory increase accounted for more than three-quarters (79.6%) of Canada’s population growth. This proportion has been increasing almost steadily since the early 1990s (44.3% on average).
• In 2017/2018, the population growth rate was highest in Nunavut (+2.2%) and lowest in the Northwest Territories (-0.9%).
• For the first time since 2000/2001, Ontario had the highest population growth rate of all provinces (+1.8%), tied with Prince Edward Island.
• Compared with the previous year, the population growth rate in 2017/2018 rose in the country’s four most populous provinces—Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta—as well as in Nova Scotia.
• Following two years of losses, Alberta started to post interprovincial migration gains again (+1,438). Ontario posted positive interprovincial migratory increase (+17,886) for a third consecutive year.

Notes

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