The population of Canada has grown again, surpassing 35 million people over the past year, and Alberta is driving a majority of that growth.
According to a report from Statistics Canada, the country’s population is an estimated 35,158,300, an increase of over 404,000 from last year.
Alberta saw an average growth rate of 3.4 percent, more than double the national average, which has remained at 1.2 percent from the previous year.
According to information released by Statistics Canada, Alberta’s population on July 1, 2013 was 4,025,074 - a growth of 136,000 from the previous year.
The population has doubled since 1978, and it had reached the 3,000,000 mark in 2000.
Alison Redford says that they continue to welcome people into the province. “The new population benchmark we’ve reached today reaffirms what we already know – that we can’t afford to stop building Alberta,” she said in a release.
The report says that the growth in Alberta was mainly due to record levels of international migration and people arriving from other provinces.
The province has the lowest median age of all the provinces and also possesses the highest growth rate from natural increase.
The Government says they will be doing more to encourage further growth, including:
- a $15B investment in key infrastructure over the next three years
- a zero percent increase in the budgeted operating expense for 2013-14
- increasing pipeline capacity
- promoting Alberta abroad
- pursuing a Canadian Energy Strategy
- providing services to help businesses export their products and services
- supporting the commercialization of innovation and technology
Alberta’s population is expected to reach five million mark by 2027 and six million by 2041.
