Canada’s growing population driven by immigration

Canada’s population is growing at almost twice the pace of every other G7 country, rising 5.2% from 2016 to just under 37 million people in 2021.

In fact, Canada is the seventh fastest growing country in the G20, following Saudi Arabia, Australia, South Africa, Turkey, Indonesia and Mexico.

Nearly four-fifths of the 1.8 million population increase from 2016 to 2021 was attributable to new arrivals to Canada, either as permanent or temporary immigrants.

While the pandemic slowed the movement of people around the world to a trickle at times, approximately 185,000 permanent immigrants came to Canada and put down roots in 2020. Immigration contributed to Canada's population growing by 0.4% in 2020, the fastest pace of growth in the G7.