Canada Year Book 2008 •
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Population and demography 24 Overview Canada had the fastest growth among the G8 areas (CMAs), population density reaches, nations from 2001 to 2006: our population on average, 238 inhabitants per square rose 5.2%. The United States ranked second, kilometre. Most of these CMAs are located in with a 5.0% growth. On July 1, 2007, the southern part of the country. Vast northern Canada’s population had reached 33.0 million, areas are sparsely populated: the Northwest 2.0 million more people than in 2001. Territories, Yukon and Nunavut makes up 39% of Canada’s total area but had only Two-thirds of Canada’s population growth is 0.3% of its population in 2007. due to international migration: an average of 240,000 newcomers have arrived each year since 2001. By contrast, 60% of the Growth is uneven across the population growth in the United States country stems from natural increase—that is, more births than deaths. Births in the United Two-thirds of Canada’s population growth States averaged 2.0 children per woman from 2001 to 2006 was concentrated in over the last few years, the highest of the Alberta and Ontario. G8; Canadian women have an average of Alberta is enjoying an economic boom, and 1.5 children. its population grew 10% from 2001 to 2006, Canada extends across a vast territory of making it the fastest-growing province in the nearly 10 million square kilometres and has country. On July 1, 2007, 3.5 million people 3.5 people per square kilometre. However, lived in Alberta and the province made up in the country’s large census metropolitan 11% of the Canadian population. Chart 24.1 Population growth rates of G8 countries, annual average, 2001 to 2006 Canada United States Italy France United Kingdom Japan Germany Russian Federation -3.0 -2.0 -1.0 0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 % Note: Population as of July 1. Sources: Statistics Canada; U.S. Census Bureau; Eurostat; U.K. Office of National Statistics; Statistics Bureau of Japan and Russian Federal State Statistics Service. Canada Year Book 2008 • www.statcan. 3 1 1 g c . c a Population and demography Gains from migration from the rest of Table 24.a Canada are still the main component of Components of population growth growth. Natural increase in Alberta, which 1990/1991 2000/2001 2006/2007 is relatively higher than in other provinces, number is generating growth, too; immigration, to a Births 402,929 327,107 352,848 lesser degree, is also a contributing factor. Deaths 192,439 219,114 237,931 Ontario is Canada’s most populous province. Immigrants 221,382 252,533 238,127 In 2007, Ontario had 12.8 million people Emigrants 43,692 47,766 41,349 and the province made up 39% of the Note: Estimates for the period from July 1 to June 30. Canadian population. From 2001 to 2006, Source: Statistics Canada, CANSIM table 051-0004. half of the country’s population growth was in Ontario. During 2006/2007, however, Ontario saw a From 2001 to 2006, Quebec’s population net loss of 36,200 people who left for other grew 3% —three times faster than during regions, and the province welcomed 17,600 the period from 1996 to 2001. This was the fewer immigrants than the previous year. second highest growth since the end of the The province’s slower population growth in baby boom in the mid-1960s. This upswing is 2006/2007 was the weakest on record since due to an increase in international migration 1980/1981. and to smaller losses in migration exchanges with other provinces. Quebec, the second most populous province, had a population of 7.7 million people on Quebec’s population growth was slower July 1, 2007, and had 23% of the Canadian during 2006/2007 than in the previous year, population. In 1971, 28% of the Canadian despite the gains in births and immigrants. population lived in Quebec. Population fluctuations The populations in Saskatchewan and in Chart 24.2 Urban–rural variation in population Newfoundland and Labrador continued to growth, 2001 to 2006 decline from 2001 to 2006. From 2001 to 2006, the former had a 1% % growth population decline, while the latter saw its 8 population fall 2%. This decline continued 7 until June 30, 2006 in Saskatchewan and until June 30, 2007 in Newfoundland and 6 Canada average Labrador. 5 4 From July 1, 2006, to October 1, 2007, Saskatchewan’s population grew to one 3 million. The population of Newfoundland 2 and Labrador was estimated at 507,500 at 1 October 1, 2007, up 1,200 people from 0 July 1, 2007. Census Other Small In 2007, the total population of the three metropolitan urban towns and territories, that is, the Northwest Territories, areas areas rural areas Yukon and Nunavut, surpassed 100,000. In all three territories, natural increase is usually Source: Statistics Canada, Census of Population, 2001 and the main growth factor. 2006. 312 Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 11-402-X Chapter 24 An increasingly urban population An aging population According to the 2006 Census, 68% of Canada may be one of the youngest G8 Canadians live in one of the country’s 33 countries, but its population is aging CMAs. Moreover, 45% of Canada’s population considerably. Mainly, this is a result of lives in the six largest CMAs: Toronto, decreasing fertility rates and longer life Montréal, Vancouver, Ottawa–Gatineau, expectancy. On July 1, 2007, the median Calgary and Edmonton. From 2001 to 2006, age among Canadians was 39 years, an two-thirds of the population growth was in increase compared with 26 years in 1971. one of these six CMAs. In 2007, the number of people aged 65 Almost 90% of the growth in population took and older reached 4.4 million, an increase place in Canada’s 33 CMAs. In the CMAs, from 2001. Seniors made up 13% of the this growth was 7%, whereas the growth population as a whole, a proportion that has was 4% in mid-size urban centres and 1% in risen progressively over the years. In 1971, small towns and rural regions. the proportion of seniors was 8%. From 2001 to 2006, some mid-size urban The proportion of children under the age of centres posted growth rates of more than 15 has continued to decline; it was 17% in 10%, twice as high as the rate for all of 2007, compared with 29% in 1971. Canada. For example, Okotoks, Alberta, south of Calgary, grew 47%. Elsewhere in According to recent population projections, Alberta, Wood Buffalo’s population, which Canada could soon have more people at the includes Fort McMurray, grew 24%; Red age where they can leave the labour force Deer, 22%; Grande Prairie, 22%; and than people at the age where they can begin Lloydminster, 13%. Yellowknife, Northwest working. Territories, also grew 13% from 2001 to 2006. These rapid changes present many challenges for Canadian employers and for society as a whole: a high turnover rate in labour, Chart 24.3 knowledge transfer, employee retention, Population projections, children and seniors health among older workers and continuing thousands education for employees, for example. 7,000 Projection1 Children A slight baby boom 6,000 (under 15) During 2006/2007, there were 352,800 5,000 births recorded in Canada. The number of 4,000 births had declined throughout the 1990s, until it reached about 327,100 in 2000/2001, 3,000 its lowest level since the end of the Second World War. Since then, the number of births 2,000 Seniors has increased every year. 1,000 (65 and older) Quebec and Alberta had the largest increase in births from 2005/2006 to 2006/2007. 0 During this period, the number of births 1956 1966 1976 1986 1996 2006 2016 increased 6% in Quebec and 4% in Alberta. This was the most births in Alberta since 1. Medium growth scenario. 1983/1984. Source: Statistics Canada, CANSIM tables 051-0026, 051-0001 and 052-0004. Canada Year Book 2008 • www.statcan.gc.ca 313 Focus Aging: Regional variations The aging of the population, which results provinces—a proportion that was smaller than from declining fertility rates and an ever- in Ontario, the Prairies and British Columbia. increasing life expectancy, affects the entire In Quebec, the number of seniors has more country. However, the effect of this aging than quadrupled in the last 50 years. In 2006, varies from one region to the next. The Quebec had one million people aged 65 and proportion of people aged 65 and older older, accounting for 14.3% of that province’s ranged from 2.7% in Nunavut to 15.4% in population. In 1956, 5.7% of Quebec’s Saskatchewan, according to the 2006 Census. population was 65 and older, the lowest As in 2001, the population east of Ontario proportion of all the provinces. was generally older than average in 2006, British Columbia’s population has been one and it was distinctly younger in the Northwest of the oldest in Canada for the last 50 years. Territories, Nunavut and Alberta, the provinces In 2006, 14.6% of that province’s population where seniors are proportionally fewer. had reached the age of 65, compared with The Atlantic region is the oldest of all 13.7% in Canada as a whole. People younger Canada’s major regions. It has proportionally than 15 years in British Columbia made up more people aged 65 and older (14.7%) 16.5% of the population, a smaller proportion and fewer children under 15 years (16.1%) than the national average of 17.7%.