Nine months after reaching a population of 40 million, Canada has cracked a new threshold.
As of Wednesday morning, it’s estimated 41 million people now call the country home, according to Statistics Canada’s live population tracker.
The speed at which Canada’s population is growing was also reflected in new data released Wednesday by the federal agency: between Jan. 1 2023 and Jan. 1 2024, Canada added 1,271,872 inhabitants, a 3.2 per cent growth rate — the highest since 1957.
Most of Canada’s 3.2 per cent population growth rate stemmed from temporary immigration. Without it, Canada’s population growth would have been 1.2 per cent, Statistics Canada said.
This is just an anti-immigration think piece that cites nothing of substance. While immigration may have negative effects in the short term, it’s almost universally understood to be an economic boon in the mid to long term, as an increase in the population leads to more demand for goods and services which stimulates the economy.