Facts & Figures from the latest Quarterly Demographic Estimates release
Source: Statistics Canada
Each province and territory in Canada added population during Q1 2016, with the national population rising by 0.30% through the addition of almost 107,000 people. While almost half (44%) of the additions were in Ontario, it was the prairie provinces leading the way in growth, with Alberta sporting a 0.42% growth rate. Interestingly, Alberta added almost 18,000 people in Q1 2016--more than both Quebec (16,000) and British Columbia (14,000), each of which boast larger populations than Alberta.
While natural increase (the difference between births and deaths) continues to be a significant driver to population growth in Alberta, it was immigration that propped-up Alberta's growth rate in Q1 2016. In fact, the 15,356 immigrants that came to the province between January and March of this year were the most in any single quarter in Alberta's history. That said, the extent to which the trend of increasing immigration continues is in question given the province's current economic environment and the slack in its regional labour markets.
While BC's population grew only at the national average in Q1 2016 (0.30%), interprovincial migration to BC continues to follow a positive, upward trend. Over the past 6 months (spanning Q4 2015 and Q1 2016), BC has welcomed more people from other parts of Canada (on a net basis) than it has over the same 6-month period in the past two decades. Specifically, 8,829 net interprovincial migrants came to the province in the past 6 months, versus a previous high of 9,061 in Q4 1995 and Q1 1996. Almost half (48%) of these recent interprovincial migrants came from Alberta (4,268 net migrants), with an additional 23% coming from Ontario (2,045) and 12% coming from Manitoba (1,087).