Canada Census 2011: Canada Leads G8 In Growth As Population Grows 5.9%

Vancouver, British Columbia

Canada’s population of 33.5 million people is growing faster than that of any other G8 nation — fuelled primarily by immigration — while the booming West continues to reshape this country’s demographic landscape, a new census has revealed.

The latest national headcount, released Wednesday by Statistics Canada, shows strong and steady growth in nearly every corner of a country that remains firmly in the grip of a westward shift in population power.

Up from 31.6 million at the time of the previous census in 2006, the Canadian population remains the smallest among the G8 but by far the fastest growing, with a 5.9 per cent growth rate in the past five years that not only exceeds the 4.4 per cent rise in the U.S., but also Canada’s own previous increase of 5.4 per cent between 2001 and 2006.

Sustaining the growth spurt is Canada’s open-arms approach to immigration, a phenomenon that has become twice as important as natural increase — the difference between births and deaths — in driving the country’s population upward.

For the first time in Canadian history, the proportion of the population living west of Ontario (30.7 per cent) is greater than the number of people living to the east (30.6 per cent). The population shift has already had political implications; the West’s growth was recognized in an electoral reform package recently approved by Parliament that will boost the number of MPs from Alberta and B.C. by six each, along with 15 new members from Ontario and three from Quebec.

Census highlights

Canada’s population as of May 2011 was 33,476,688.
Our population grew by 5.9 per cent between 2006 and 2011.
Saskatchewan had the greatest turnaround in its growth rate among the provinces and territories between 2006 and 2011.
Saskatchewan’s population exceeded 1 million for the first time.
Every province experienced positive growth between 2006 and 2011.
Population is divided in three almost equal regions in Canada: British Columbia and the Prairies; Ontario; as well as Quebec and Atlantic Canada.
One in three Canadians live in one of the three largest census metropolitan areas: Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver.
Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon and Kelowna, B.C., had the highest rate of population growth since 2006.
Windsor and Thunder Bay, both in Ontario, saw their population decline between 2006 and 2011.
10 of the fastest growing census agglomerations (communities or groups of communities between 50,000 and 100,000 people) were in Alberta.
Milton, Ont., inside the Toronto CMA and just north of Oakville, Ont had the largest growth rate of any city between 2006 and 2011 at 56.5 per cent.
Thunder Bay, Ont. suffered the largest percentage decrease in population, losing 10.3 per cent.
Two cities lost enough population in their urban cores to lose their status as census agglomerations: La Tuque, Que., and Kitimat, B.C.
Five other cities grew their urban centres to more than 10,000 people and became census agglomerations: Steinbach, Man; High River, Strathmore and Sylvan Lake and Lacombe — all in Alberta.
Six cities showed no statistically significant change in population between 2006 and 2011: Campbellton, N.B.; Nicolet, Que.; Thetford Mines, Que.; Kincardine, Ont.; South Bruce Peninsula, Ont.; and West Grey, Ont.