(Ottawa) By 2068, Canada, which had a population of 38.2 million in 2021, is projected to have a population of 56.5 million in 2068, and the number of people aged 85 and over could triple.
Posted 9:06am Updated 11:19am
Louise Leduc The press
This emerges, among other things, from the population projections for Canada, the provinces and territories (2021 to 2068). While there were 871,000 people over the age of 85 in 2021, there could be 3.2 million in 2068. As of July 1, 2021, the country already had 12,822 centenarians, with 1,100 of them being added every year.
In 2068, one in four people will be 65 or older.
From 2016 to 2021, Canada’s population grew almost twice as fast as other G7 countries. After slowing in 2021 due to the pandemic, population growth picked up again in 2021 and from January to March 2022 was the highest in any first quarter since 1990.
In terms of inter-provincial immigration, Quebec is performing less poorly than in the past. In 2021 it still posted net losses (-1450) but this was its best performance since 2003-2004.
British Columbia continues to stand out, recording the highest increase in interprovincial migration (+34,277), the largest annual increase since 1993-1994.
In contrast, Ontario (-17,085), Alberta (-11,831), Manitoba (-9,685), and Saskatchewan (-9,410) had the highest inter-provincial migration losses.
Immigration will continue to be “the main driver of population growth” in the country, Statistics Canada observes.
However, immigration will fail to “significantly increase the proportion of young people in the population, so Canada will remain dependent on heavy immigration to ensure the renewal of its population, particularly in a context where fertility rates are low and recently declining.
By 2020, Canadian immigration had been halved due to border closures, bringing population growth to its lowest level since World War I. “However, this was temporary as international migration recovered in 2021 and accounted for 87.4% of the country’s population growth that year,” it said.
Natural increase (births minus deaths) will continue to decline in Canada over the next few years, particularly due to population aging and low fertility among Canadian couples.
This natural increase will even turn negative from 2049 to 2058.
In 2020, amid pandemic shock, the number of children per woman in Canada hit a historically low level of 1.4.