There is no doubt, Canada is getting older. For the first time, the number of persons aged 65 years and older exceeded the number of children aged 0 to 14 years.
While Canada’s estimated population was 35,851,800 on July 1, 2015, an increase of 0.9%, the actual growth rate was slower than the previous year.
Populations grew above the national average in Nunavut (+2.3%), Alberta (+1.8%), Yukon (+1.2%), Saskatchewan (+1.0%), Manitoba (+1.0%) and British Columbia (+1.0%). However, Newfoundland and Labrador (-0.2%) and New Brunswick (-0.1%) actually saw a decline in population.
Why you need to know: environmental scans, demographic trends, societal analysis
(Source: Canada’s population estimates: Age and sex, July 1, 2015, Statistics Canada.)