Canada: Pop. 32.6 million (StatsCan says)
Sep. 27, 2006. 05:50 PM
CANADIAN PRESS
The Toronto Star
OTTAWA Canadas population increased by 324,000 to an estimated 32,623,500 between July 2005 and July 2006, fuelled largely by immigration.
Statistics Canada says international migration accounted for about two-thirds of the increase.
The country took in 254,400 immigrants during the one-year period, 9,800 more than in the previous year and the highest level since 2001-02.
International migrations role in Canadas population growth far exceeds its impact in the United States, where it accounted for just 38 per cent of population growth in 2004-05, the last year for which U.S. statistics are available.
Canadas population increased at the rate of 10 people for every 1,000 in the population, slightly higher than the U.S. rate, while its rate of natural increase the excess of births over deaths was estimated at 3.3 per 1,000.
Booming Alberta had the strongest growth rate among the provinces and territories, almost three times higher than the national average at 29.5 people per 1,000.
B.C. also posted a population growth rate higher than the national average, at 12.3 per 1,000.
Among the other Prairie provinces, Manitobas population grew at a rate of 3.1 per 1,000, while Saskatchewan showed a decline at -4.6 per 1,000.
Ontarios growth rate of 10.2 per 1,000 was just above the national average, while neighbouring Quebec posted a growth rate of 7.1 per 1,000.
In the Atlantic region, Prince Edward Island (2.5 per 1,000) was the only jurisdiction with a positive growth rate, while Nova Scotia (-1.8 per 1,000) and New Brunswick (-3.1 per 1,000) showed declines.
Newfoundland and Labrador (-8.4 per 1,000), which lost population for the 14th year in a row, was the first Canadian jurisdiction to experience more deaths that births over the course of one year.
In the North, Nunavut recorded a growth rate more than twice the national average (24.4 per 1,000), thanks to a fertility rate that was double the national average.
The Yukon (3.5 per 1,000) posted its slowest population growth in four years, while the Northwest Territories (-18.2 per 1,000) went through its biggest population decline since 1997-98.
