The government reported that Canada’s population grew by over a million individuals for the first time last year.
Statistics Canada reported that the country’s population increased from 38,516,138 to 39,566,248 persons.
It was also the greatest annual population growth rate for Canada since 1957, at 2.7%.
Statistics Canada reported that government initiatives to recruit immigrants into the country to alleviate labor shortages contributed to the increase.
Additionally, the country relies on immigration to sustain its aging population.
However, according to Statistics Canada, the increase in permanent and transitory immigrants could “represent additional challenges for certain regions of the country in terms of housing, infrastructure, transportation, and service delivery to the population.”
According to the news release, nearly 96% of population growth was due to international migration.
Since assuming office in 2015, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has made efforts to attract more immigrants to Canada. In 2018, the government announced a proposal to accept 500,000 immigrants annually by 2025.
The Canadian government has also accepted refugees from conflicts such as the war in Ukraine, the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, and the earthquakes in Turkey, Syria, and Turkey in 2023.
On Wednesday, it was announced that a program offering Ukrainians and their families temporary resettlement would be extended until July.
To date, more than 600,000 of the nearly one million applications received have been approved, and more than 130,000 individuals have entered Canada under the initiative.
Prof. Randall Hansen from the University of Toronto remarked that immigration debates are generally more positive in “settler” nations than in Western Europe, especially in Canada.
Prof. Hansen, a Canada research chair in global migration, stated, “Canadians would love for the world to believe that they are more open, liberal, and accommodating, but this is nonsense.”
He explained that Canada had fashioned its “national identity” around the concept of multiculturalism in part to distinguish itself from the attitudes of its southern neighbor, the United States.
He added that the country’s pro-immigration stance was also due to its strict control of its borders, its ability to select the “best and brightest” migrants from around the globe, and the relative lack of spatial restrictions around its major cities.
In 1957, Canada experienced its previous highest population growth due to the baby surge following World War II and the influx of refugees following the Hungarian Revolution.
According to a government news release, the United States welcomed 437,000 immigrants in 2022, while the number of non-permanent residents increased by 607,782. This marked a “record-breaking year for the processing of immigration applications.”
Statistics Canada reports that Canada would rank first among the 38 member states of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development for population growth in 2022, while also being the fastest-growing G7 nation.
If Canada’s population continued to grow by 2.7% annually, it would double in 26 years, according to the government.
