Alberta: Canada’s Population Powerhouse
- April 17, 2016
- By Cody Battershill
Alberta: Canada’s Population Powerhouse
Alberta`s population has continued to increase as of late due to immigration even though low energy prices have led to decreasing employment opportunities in many of the provinces industries.
There basically are three ways that the population of any province can increase (or decrease): natural gain (more births than deaths), net interprovincial migration and international immigration. Over the past decade, 37 percent of Alberta`s population growth was due to a net gain from immigration.
Meanwhile, since the turn of the millennium in 2000, Alberta`s population has grown by a staggering 1.2 million people. That`s like adding a whole other city such as Calgary or Edmonton to the province!
Even during the economic bust of 2015, Alberta`s population growth remained relatively strong among all provinces at 1.8 percent! So where is all this growth coming from anyways?
Immigration
According to Statistics Canada, approximately 300,000 immigrants had chosen Alberta as their new home over the past 10 years out of a total of 2.5 million immigrants to Canada during the same time.
During this period, about 70,000 Albertans chose to pack up their things and relocate abroad – leaving a permanent net gain of around 230,000 people - while another 66,000 non-permanent residents also joined the province.
Interprovincial Migration
As far as interprovincial migration is concerned, Alberta is by far the most moved-to province in Canada over the past decade. Since 2006, the provinces population increased by 244,000 due to people relocating there from other provinces.
To put things into perspective, British Columbia was the next highest province with a surplus of 78,000 over the past 10 years. The third and last province to have a positive gain from interprovincial migration was Saskatchewan with a surplus of 1500 since 2006. See these 10 Reasons to Love Alberta, Canada.
Natural Increase
Another interesting statistic from Statistics Canada is the fact that Alberta has had the highest rate of natural increase every year throughout the entire country since 1981! Last year, Alberta`s rate of such was more than double the provincial average – at 800 per 100,000 compared to 337 per 100,000 across the country.
In comparison, three of Canada`s four Atlantic provinces saw natural decreases last year because the number of deaths were larger than that of births.
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