New population estimates from Statistics Canada show Alberta’s population grew by more than 70,000, or 1.6 per cent, since last summer. This is faster than the previous year, when the province grew by 1.3 per cent.

Alberta’s rate of growth was above the national average of 1.4 per cent and posted the fourth largest percentage increase among the provinces and territories. Prince Edward Island grew the most at 2.2 per cent followed by Ontario at 1.7 per cent. The populations of both the Northwest Territories (-0.29 per cent) and Newfoundland and Labrador shrank (-0.77 per cent).

In absolute terms, the country grew by just over 530,000 people since last July with the largest number added in Ontario (248,000).

Although Alberta’s current pace of population growth is relatively brisk, it is slower than it used to be. Annual growth averaged 2.3 per cent over the ten years before the recession, peaking at 3.0 per cent in 2006 during the natural gas boom. Between 2015 and 2019, annual growth has averaged a more modest 1.4 per cent.

Tomorrow’s Owl will look at the ongoing aging of Alberta’s population.​