Immigrants, temporary foreign workers and international students are driving some of the fastest population growth among the G7 countries and the fastest growth Canada has seen since 1957, reports Statistics Canada.

“The population growth on July 1, 2023, marks the highest population growth rate recorded for a 12-month period since 1957, which was 3.3 per cent, during the Hungarian refugee crisis and at the height of the baby boom,” the demographic and statistical services agency reports.

“In absolute numbers, the increase observed last year is more than twice the increase observed in 1957, which was 555,000 people.

“If the rate of population growth seen this past year remained constant in the future, it would lead to the Canadian population doubling in 30+ years.”

In its second-quarter population estimates, entitled Canada’s Demographic Estimates For July 1, 2023: Record-High Population Growth Since 1957, Statistics Canada says the country’s population was 40,097,761 on Canada Day this year, up from 40 million on June 16.

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With that latest spike in population, Canada’s year-over-year rate of population growth hit 2.9 per cent on July 1.

“Close to 98 per cent of the growth in the Canadian population from July 1, 2022, to July 1, 2023, came from net international migration, with two per cent coming from the difference between births and deaths,” reports Statistics Canada.

“Fertility reached record-low levels in 2022, with 1.33 children per woman, compared with 1.44 in 2021.”

Temporary residents in Canada, including temporary foreign workers and international students, have exploded in number in the past year.

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“As of July 1, 2023, an estimated 2,198,679 non-permanent residents lived in Canada, a 46 per cent increase from the same date one year prior, at 1,500,978,” reports Statistics Canada.

“This represents the largest year-over-year increase in the population of non-permanent residents living in Canada since comparable data became available in 1971/1972 with the increase in work and study permits accounting for most of the change in the last year.”

The population of temporary residents in Canada, at almost 2.2 million is now greater than that of the 1.8 million indigenous people in Canada.

Alberta Is Canada’s Fastest Growing Province, Newfoundland And Labrador The Slowest

The fastest-growing province in Canada in the past year has been Alberta whose population spiked by four per cent.

“This growth was not only due to international migration but was also the result of record net gains from migratory exchanges between provinces,” notes Statistics Canada.

“Alberta saw 56,245 more people moving to the province than leaving it, making these not only the highest annual net interprovincial gains for Alberta, but the highest annual net interprovincial gains ever recorded for any single province or territory since comparable data became available.”

Seven provinces – Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan – saw their populations increase last year at rates never observed since comparable data became available.

“All three Maritime provinces registered a population growth of at least three per cent,” notes Statistics Canada.

Ontario and British Columbia’s populations grew by three per cent each, Manitoba’s population rose by 2.9 per cent and Saskatchewan upped its population by 2.6 per cent. While its population growth hit a record-high of 2.3 per cent, Quebec nonetheless saw the second-lowest growth among all provinces.

That dubious distinction went to Newfoundland and Labrador whose population growth rate was the lowest among provinces, at 1.3 per cent.