Canada’s population growth over the the past half decade has been largely driven by immigration, according to 2021 census data.

Statistics Canada captured the Canadian population on May 11, 2021, five years after its previous census in 2016.

The newly-released findings reveal Canada grew about twice as fast as other G7 countries, which include France, Germany, Italy, Japan, U.K. and U.S. Even in 2020 when the pandemic halted Canada’s population growth, it continued to be the fastest-growing in the G7. The main reason for the slowdown was the border restrictions Canada put in place to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Canada is now home to nearly 37 million people. Immigration, not fertility, drove Canada’s population growth. Four out of five of the 1.8 million people added to the population were either temporary residents or immigrants with permanent status. The remaining population growth was due to natural increase (the difference between births subtracted by deaths)…read more.