MNI:Canada Population May Double In 50Y Even With Migrant Curb
MNI (OTTAWA) - Canada's population will continue growing in coming decades even with a near-term dip triggered by the government's recent immigration curbs, the federal statistics office said Tuesday.
Head count is estimated to climb from 40.3 million to 59.3 million five decades from now according to Statistics Canada's medium-growth scenario. Even the low-growth scenario has population increasing to 45.2 million, and the upside scenario to 80.8 million. (See: MNI: Canada Job Market Seen Reheating As Migrants Leave- CFIB)
"In the short term, a substantial reduction in the number of permanent residents admitted to the country, as well as a decrease in the number of non-permanent residents, would result in much lower population growth than that observed recently in 2022 and 2023. The population would even decrease slightly from 2025 to 2026, according to the low- and medium-growth scenarios. In all scenarios, however, migratory increase would be the key driver of population growth in Canada, continuing a trend observed since the early 1990s," the report said.
"In addition, according to the medium-growth scenario, the population aged 85 and older in Canada would more than double over the period from 2031 to 2051, from 1.2 million to 2.8 million. This rapid growth would be a result of the baby-boom generation (born between 1946 and 1965) reaching this oldest age group."