Negative immigration in Q3 weighs on population growth

By James Langton | December 17, 2020 | Last updated on December 17, 2020
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Covid-19 has essentially stopped Canada’s population growth in its tracks, Statistics Canada is reporting —immigration has turned negative, against the backdrop of the already-low birth rate.

The national statistical agency released its population estimates for the third quarter, which indicated that the population remained stagnant for the first time since comparable records began in 1946.

The population was essentially unchanged at just over 38 million.

In six provinces and two territories, the population decreased for the first time on record, looking at comparable provincial data that began in 1951.

British Columbia suffered the largest decline in the quarter as its population dipped by 1,861.

The pause in immigration, which is typically the largest contributor to domestic population growth, was the biggest reason for the halt.

In the third quarter, international migration accounted for a loss of over 27,000 people. StatsCan noted that quarterly migration was negative for only the second time since records began in 1971.

“International students usually come to Canada in large numbers in the third quarter of the year, but many were not able to do so in 2020 because of the border restrictions,” the agency reported.

This negative immigration essentially offset Canada’s organic population growth as births (99,024) outnumbered deaths (69,114) by 29,910.

StatsCan said that deaths directly from Covid-19 only had a small impact, as the virus accounted for just 706 of 69,114 total deaths during the third quarter.

This was down sharply from 8,495 Covid deaths in the second quarter.

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James Langton

James is a senior reporter for Advisor.ca and its sister publication, Investment Executive. He has been reporting on regulation, securities law, industry news and more since 1994.