Annual Demographic Estimates: Canada, Provinces and Territories, 2018

Highlights

Total population

• 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.

Population by age and sex

• On July 1, 2018, 6,358,220 Canadians, or more than one out of six people (17.2%), were at least 65 years of age. The gap between this age group and the population aged 0 to 14 years (5,972,733 or 16.1%) is widening.
• Almost one out of two people aged 65 or older (46.3%) was a baby boomer, defined as someone born between 1946 and 1965. This proportion is rising quickly; it was 41.3% barely a year ago.
• In 2018, one out of two Canadians was at least 40.8 years. The median age has increased by 10 years since 1984, when it was 30.6 years.
• The median age was higher for women (41.8 years) than for men (39.7 years). The life expectancy of women is higher than for men.
• On July 1, 2018, for 100 working-age individuals, Canada had 49.9 individuals 0 to 14 years or 65 years or older. This demographic dependency ratio has been rising steadily since 2009 (44.1).
• Among the G7 countries, Canada (17.2%) had the second‑lowest proportion of persons aged 65 and older, just behind the United States (15%).
• On July 1, 2018, Newfoundland and Labrador had the highest median age (46.5 years), and Nunavut the lowest (26.1 years).

Notes

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