Canada’s population hit 40 million shortly before 3 p.m. Friday, Statistics Canada confirmed.
“This is an important milestone for Canada,” Chief Statistician Anil Arora said in a statement. It is a clear sign that Canada remains a dynamic, welcoming country full of potential. »
The country’s demographic growth is in fact mainly due to international migration. The latter was responsible for 96% of the growth recorded in 2022.
Statistics Canada states that the population growth rate is currently 2.7%, “which represents the highest level since 1957, when immigration and the baby boom helped to increase the Canadian population by 3, 3%”.
Laurent Martel, director of the demography center at Statistics Canada, recalls that a million people arrived in Canada last year.
” [L’année] 2022 also stands out, because it is the first time that Canada has welcomed more temporary immigrants compared to permanent immigrants, he explains in an interview. We received […] more than 600,000 temporary immigrants, obviously in connection with the response of several governments to deal with, for example, labor shortages. »
According to the federal agency, in terms of population growth, Canada surpasses the other G7 countries, which are preparing to face the consequences of demographic decline.
All provinces and territories experienced population growth except the Northwest Territories.
“The provinces in which there are large urban centers show slightly faster population growth than the provinces in which there are fewer large urban centres”, specifies Mr. Martel, adding that immigrants tend to settle in the metropolises.
Another territory stands out: Nunavut. ” Population growth [y] is above all linked to a fertility rate that is completely different from that of the rest of the country. In Nunavut, the number of children per woman is much higher than anywhere else in Canada,” he says.
While in Canada, there are 1.43 children per woman, this figure rises to 2.56 in Nunavut.
If Canada continues on its path, its population could reach 50 million people in 2043.