British Columbia experienced five consecutive quarters of interprovincial migration losses for the first time since the first quarter of 2013
CANADA’S population was estimated at 40,528,396 on October 1, 2023, an increase of 430,635 people (+1.1%) from July 1, Statistics Canada announced on Tuesday.
This was the highest population growth rate in any quarter since the second quarter of 1957 (+1.2%), when Canada’s population grew by 198,000 people. At the time, Canada’s population was 16.7 million people, and this rapid population growth resulted from the high number of births during the post-war baby boom and high immigration of refugees following the Hungarian Revolution in 1956.
Canada’s total population growth for the first nine months of 2023 (+1,030,378 people) had already exceeded the total growth for any other full-year period since Confederation in 1867, including 2022, when there was a record growth.
Population growth rates in the third quarter of 2023 exceeded the national level (+1.1%) in Alberta (+1.3%), Prince Edward Island (+1.2%) and Ontario (+1.2%). The population grew in all provinces and territories, except in the Northwest Territories (-0.5%).
IN the third quarter of 2023, the vast majority (96%) of the population growth was due to international migration. The rest of this gain (4.0%) was the result of natural increase, or the difference between the number of births and deaths. The contribution of natural increase to population growth is expected to remain low in the coming years because of population aging, lower fertility levels, and the high number of immigrants and non-permanent residents coming to Canada, said Statistics Canada.
Canada welcomed 107,972 immigrants in the third quarter. From January to September 2023, immigration reached 79.8% (371,299) of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s target of 465,000 immigrants for the year.
From July 1 to October 1, the country saw the number of non-permanent residents continue to increase; the total non-permanent resident population increased from 2,198,679 to 2,511,437. This represents a net increase of 312,758 non-permanent residents in the third quarter, which is the greatest quarterly increase going back to 1971 (when data on non-permanent residents became available). The gain in non-permanent residents was mostly due to an increase in the number of work and study permit holders and, to a lesser extent, an increase in the number of refugee claimants.
ALL provinces and territories recorded losses in their interprovincial migration exchanges in the third quarter of 2023 except for Alberta, which continued to have the highest net gains (+17,094), and New Brunswick (+21), with a very small gain.
Alberta has registered interprovincial migration gains of 10,000 or more for five consecutive quarters for the first time since comparable data were made available (1971). Most of Alberta’s population gains through interprovincial migration were due to its exchanges with Ontario and British Columbia. In contrast, British Columbia experienced five consecutive quarters of interprovincial migration losses for the first time since the first quarter of 2013.
Despite the continuous net loss of interprovincial migration in Ontario, which began in the first quarter of 2020, the province showed a smaller net loss in the third quarter of 2023 (-5,952). Meanwhile, the Atlantic provinces observed a negligible or negative net interprovincial migration, which is a contrast to the trends seen from 2020 to 2022, during the COVID-19 pandemic, when they recorded strong growth from population exchanges with other provinces and territories. This can be largely attributable to the recent decrease in the number of migrants moving from Ontario to the Atlantic provinces.
