Population Growth In Canada Among World’s Fastest
Canada’s population growth accelerated through 2023, reaching 3.2%, one of the fastest rates in the world.
According to new data from Statistics Canada, the country’s population rose by 1.25 million in the year to October 1 2023. This is the largest number in any 12-month period since records began in 1867.
According to Bloomberg, this population surge was driven largely by a rise in international migration. Canada accepted 454,590 new permanent residents during 2023, while bringing in 804,690 non-permanent residents, a classification that includes temporary workers, foreign students and, refugees.
This increase has brought Canada’s population to an estimated 40.5 million, slightly more than that of California.
The last time Canada’s population growth exceeded this year’s was in the late 1950s, during the post-war baby boom and a period when the country was accepting Hungarian refugees fleeing from repression in the Soviet Union. This population expansion is faster than that of any G7 nation and matched only by countries on the African continent.
Although international migration has contributed to boosting economic growth, the Canadian government has received much criticism, particularly over rapidly worsening housing affordability, and borrowing costs at two-decade high.
Population growth has also contributed to a sharp rise in rental prices, which saw an annual increase of 7.4% to November 2023. The high cost of accommodation is the largest contributor to Canada’s 3.1% inflation rate, according to Statistics Canada.
Earlier this month, Toni Gravelle, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada, said that population growth and a chronic undersupply of housing are major reasons why rent price inflation is not slowing.
Some economists have said that Canada’s population growth is masking an underlying deterioration in standards of living, with gross domestic product declining on a per-capita basis. In a report to investors on December 19, Marc Desormeaux, an economist with Desjardins Securities, said: “Today’s data raises even more questions about Canada’s longer-run economic prospects. The population numbers once again reinforce the need to boost the housing supply and bolster infrastructure spending.”
Submitted by Friends of Retha
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