Canada's population grows by 250,000 over 3-month period

Canada’s population hit 41,288,599 earlier this year, Statistics Canada has revealed.

British Columbia’s population, meanwhile, grew to 5,698,430. That’s an increase of 31,542 people between April 1 and June 30.

Across Canada as a whole, 250,229 people were added over those three months.

The growth was almost entirely due to immigration, which accounted for 96 per cent of the additional people.

Canada’s fertility rate – the average amount of children women have in their lifetimes – remains extraordinarily low at about 1.33, meaning the country’s population cannot, in the long run, grow, or even sustain itself, without immigration.

According to StatCan, the population growth in the second quarter of this year was lower than in the same period in 2023. The agency said that’s the first time since 2020 that quarterly growth has declined on a year-over-year basis.

But despite "signs of slowing," population growth between April and June this year "remained higher than in any other second quarter before 2022," the agency said.

Between July 1, 2023 and July 1, 2024, Canada's population grew by 1.2 million people.

The country's ballooning population has become a major political issue in recent years.

Economists, meanwhile, have warned the country’s rapid growth in people is damaging prosperity.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Tory Leader Pierre Poilievre and BC Premier David Eby have all complained of the surge in arrivals. The Trudeau government has pledged to bring down migration numbers, but his critics have said he’s not doing enough.

Alberta was the fastest-growing of Canada's provinces and territories in the second quarter of this year, adding 46,200 people. That's the fourth quarter in a row that the province, whose population is now estimated to be 4,888,723, has led Canada in growth.

It also recorded a net gain of 9,654 people from interprovincial migration. BC, on the other hand, lost 402 people to interprovincial migration (21,941 out, 21,539 in). BC has been losing people to interprovincial migration since the third quarter of 2023, when it lost a net of 4,359 people.