Be courageous and be brave

And in my heart, you'll always stay

Forever young, forever young

Forever young, forever young

—Rod Stewart, Forever Young

Yesterday, we gave the headline population story - Alberta’s population growth is slowing, but still rising faster than the national average.

Today, we dig into the age composition of migrants to Alberta.

The punchline is that migrants are young, and Alberta has been a net recipient of children and youth from the rest of Canada over the last three years.

Alberta gained 10,739 children and youth (ages 0-24) from other provinces and territories in the year ending July 1, 2025 (see chart).* It added another 12,705 aged 25-44. A small minority of net migrants (4,694) were over the age of 44. That is, 83% of the net interprovincial migrants were ages 44 years or less, compared to only 61% of Alberta’s population that falls in that bracket.

Meanwhile, provinces like Ontario saw the opposite trend, with young people leaving.  

But it’s not just young people coming to Alberta from other provinces. Indeed, Alberta gained more people than it lost across every age cohort (even adding 2 people over the age of 100!). One possibility is that even older Canadians were part of the ‘chasing affordability’ crowd, or seeking job opportunities. Another possibility, and a theory I subscribe to, is that many retired Canadians were following their children (and in particular their grandchildren).

Now let's layer on international migration. It’s a similar pattern, with international migrants highly concentrated in the under 45 age group. The age where total net migration peaks is 25-29.  

Does this mean the population isn’t aging anymore? Not at all. The baby boomer cohort is so large in numbers that record inflows of young migrants could not arrest a steady increase in the 65+ population share, even during the height of the migration bonanza in 2024. We have long argued that migration slows, but cannot realistically reverse, population aging.   

Implications

Counting people coming to Alberta is one thing. But to really understand what services will be in demand and the impact on the labour market, you also need to know the age profile of those migrants.

Youthful inflows create demand for things like schools, childcare, and recreational facilities. They also mean more young people entering post-secondary education and the labour force. Indeed, one of the challenges in Alberta has been that youth (15-24) employment has not kept pace with rapid increases in the youth labour force, pushing the youth unemployment rate to the highest level since the pandemic.

While this is creating some labour market friction in the near term, we see the influx of youth as a long-term advantage. As the population ages, it will help employers meet workforce needs and strengthen the income tax base for governments.

*Demographers measure annual population at the mid-point of the year (as of July 1). As a result, the numbers reported in this Twenty-Four represent growth in 2025.

Answer to the previous trivia question: Prince Edward Island is the only province that does not have at least one of Canada’s 800 largest companies headquartered in it (based on 2024 revenue).

Today’s trivia question: What is the largest Crown Corporation in Canada (as of 2024 revenue)?