Canada reached a new high for population growth last year, increasing by over 1 million people, making it the highest recorded annual population growth on record since 1957.
The population growth in 1957, the year that held the previous record, is attributed to higher births “during the post-war baby boom and the high immigration of refugees following the Hungarian Revolution of 1956,” according to the agency.
International migration is what accounted for 95.9 percent of all of Canada’s population growth last year. With Canada’s population growth rate of 2.7 percent in 2022, it places the country in the top 20 in the world, said Statistics Canada.
The agency noted that almost all countries that saw a higher pace of population growth were in Africa; and if this growth rate stays constant in the future, the Canadian population could double in roughly 26 years.
Statistics Canada attributed international migration numbers to the federal government’s increasing immigration targets, while noting that a rise in temporary and permanent immigrants brings with it challenges related to housing, infrastructure, transportation, and service delivery.
The estimated growth in the number of non-permanent residents in 2022 is the highest for any single calendar year that has data available for comparison, Statistics Canada said. Just in the fourth quarter, from Oct. 1, 2022, to Dec. 31, 2022, Canada grew by 0.7 percent, or 273,893 people, the highest growth rate in a fourth quarter since 1956.
“All provinces and territories saw a year-over-year increase in the net estimated number of non-permanent residents in 2022, with work and study permits, in addition to the number of asylum claimants, up across the country,” it said.
All of the estimates are based on 2016 Census counts, said Statistics Canada. The agency said new population estimates based on the 2021 census would be published in September 2023.
