the CanadaVisa Team - 09 July, 2015
Statistics Canada, the federal agency assigned to produce statistics to better understand Canada, has released its latest population projections. It is projected that immigration will heavily influence the makeup of the country over the coming decades.
Alberta, for example, will most likely overtake British Columbia as the third most populace province by 2038, reaching between 5.6 million and 6.8 million. Its current population is just over 4 million. A young workforce attracted to the province by a strong economy will result in Alberta continuing to have the lowest proportion of seniors in the country.
Quebec’s population will also increase, mostly due to immigration, but its share of the Canadian population will reduce in size as the populations of other provinces increase more rapidly.
The population of Ontario is expected to increase to between 14.8 million and 18.3 million by 2038. Ontario would remain the most populous province according to all scenarios. In all scenarios, immigration would remain the key driver of Ontario's population growth.
Most scenarios show Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick all losing population over the next 25 years. This is due to their relatively older age structure, their small share of Canadian immigration, and the tendency of many younger members of their Canadian-born populations to seek work in other provinces.
The overall population of Canada is projected to be between 39 million and 48 million by 2038.
