Canadian population reaches 37 million as record quarter for deaths offset by strong immigration

Article content

Canada’s population exceeded 37 million for the first time earlier this year, driven by a record first quarter for international migration.

More than 88,000 people migrated to Canada from abroad between Jan. 1 and April 1, according to Statistics Canada data released Thursday.

That influx made up for a record-low quarter for natural population growth — the difference between domestic births and deaths.

Only 15,031 more people were born in Canada between January and April than died over the same stretch. There were 93,944 births and 78,907 deaths, according to a preliminary analysis of census data performed by Statistics Canada researchers.

Interestingly, the researchers noted that Canada has never recorded so many deaths in a single quarter before. “In addition,” they wrote, “there are generally fewer births during this time of the year.”

So 2018 so far in Canada can basically be summed up like this: lots of people are dying, fewer people are being born, but it’s okay because immigration remains strong.


Story continues below

Article content continued

Those patterns hold true throughout much of the country.

Every province and territory except for Newfoundland and Labrador grew in the first quarter. Among the provinces, Ontario and Alberta led the nation in growth at 0.4 per cent.

Nunavut’s population, meanwhile, soared by 0.7 per cent — although that number sounds less impressive when broken down into actual numbers. The territory added a whopping 253 people in the first quarter of 2018, for a total population of 38,456. Ontario, by comparison, added more than 55,000 residents.

Nationally, Canada’s population grew by 0.3 per cent to 37,067,011.