Immigration Gives Canada Largest Population Growth In 6 Decades

Canada’s population has seen its most rapid growth in over six decades, with new data from Statistics Canada revealing an unprecedented surge largely driven by temporary immigration.

As of January 1, 2024, the nation’s population reached a staggering 40,769,890, marking a 3.2% increase from the previous year, the highest annual growth reported since 1957. Canada’s real-time population clock shows that the country’s population has now broken 41 million, just months after breaking the 40 million threshold.

Population growth in the fourth quarter of 2023 was the highest seen in the fourth quarter since 1956. Canada’s population increased by 241,494 people between October 1 and December 31, 2023.

“In 2023, the vast majority (97.6%) of Canada’s population growth came from international migration (both permanent and temporary immigration), and the remaining portion (2.4%) came from natural increase,” reads Statistics Canada’s report published Wednesday.

The influx of 471,771 permanent immigrants in 2023 aligns with the targets set by Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada, yet it is the temporary immigration that has primarily fueled the population increase. A record 804,901 non-permanent residents, including temporary workers and international students, were added to Canada’s demographic tally.

According to a recent report by True North’s Candice Malcolm, the number of illegal migrants has exploded tenfold since Stephen Harper was Prime Minister. She said that the total number of newcomers in Canada is approximately 2.2 million people annually.

Amidst this rapid growth, interprovincial migration has also seen notable shifts, with Alberta recording a significant net gain, the largest seen since comparable data became available in 1972.

Ontario saw the flipside of things, losing 36,197 people to other provinces. This followed a loss of 38,816 people the year prior. The only time a province lost more than 35,000 people to interprovincial migration was Quebec in 1977 and 1978, losing 38,498 and 36,955 people, respectively.