The country's usual steady population growth has been dramatically decelerated by COVID-19, as border closures halted immigration.
The approximate population did increase though, to 38 million, but at a much lower speed than seen pre-pandemic according to Statistics Canada. Canada's population grew merely 0.5% between the July of 2020 and July of this year, which equals an increase of 208,904 new Canadians. Pandemic-related deaths are undoubtedly one of the chief contributors to our country's paltry population growth.
"This increase was the smallest figure since 1945, and the slowest rate of growth since 1916, two periods when Canada was at war. By comparison, the population grew by 536,146 (+1.4%) between 2018 and 2019, before the pandemic," StatsCan said in a report released yesterday, Sept. 29. "The third quarter of 2020 had the lowest growth ever recorded for any quarter, showing a net loss of population for the first time since at least 1971."
2019's third quarter, saw the most substantial quarterly population growth on record, a staggering total of 210,169, which eclipses the entire period between July of 2020 and July 2021.
British Columbia experienced its highest migration increase in almost 30 years. The province gained 34,277 new residents between July 2020 and July 2021. Other notable increases were Nova Scotia with 9,949 new residents, New Brunswick with 3,3887 new residents and Newfoundland and Labrador with 785 new residents.
The prairies on the other hand, faced declines in population. Alberta lost 11,831, Manitoba 9,685 and Saskatchewan 9,410, respectively.