The Toronto region’s population has topped 7 million. Here is what you need to know

The Toronto skyline is seen on Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young (Chris Young/The Canadian Press)

Toronto and the surrounding region’s population has officially topped the seven million-mark, with nearly 300,000 people moving here in the last year alone.

A report released by Statistics Canada on Thursday showed that the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area’s (CMA) population stood at more than 7.1 million as of July, up nearly four per cent from one year prior when approximately 6.8 million people called the region home.

The population growth in Toronto outpaced both the national average (three per cent) and the rate of growth among other CMAs (3.5 per cent).

Here is what you need to know about the data:

The Toronto CMA covers a vast amount of territory

The statistics are for the entire Toronto census metropolitan area (CMA), which covers 5,902 square kilometres from Lake Simcoe to Lake Ontario, all the way from Ajax in the east to Oakville in the west.

External migration may have driven the increase

Matti Semiatycki, Director of the Infrastructure Institute and Professor of Geography and Planning at the University of Toronto, says the rise in population is mainly due to external migration, rather than internal.

"I think we do have to be asking the question about what’s happening in our big cities that people are landing here," Semiatycki told CTV News.

Statistics Canada’s report says “the most important source of population growth” in Toronto, Montréal and Vancouver was the increase in the number of non-permanent residents (NPRs). There was a dip in the number of new immigrants, compared to the previous year.

However, almost a quarter of the nearly 500,000 new immigrants arriving in Canada have reportedly settled in Toronto.

“In terms of the economy, it’s a lot of our growth. Our economic growth is happening because of immigration,” Semiatycki said. “All of the growth is coming from people coming from outside of Canada.”

People are still leaving the city in big numbers

The report revealed that nearly 10,000 more people left the Toronto region for other provinces and territories than moved here, though the total deficit was lower than in previous years.

The report showed that Alberta was the biggest benefactor, gaining roughly 40,000 people as a result of interprovincial migration over the last year.

Semiatycki says the economy is going to feel some pressure after the federal government announced its plans to significantly scale back its immigration targets in the years ahead.

“Newcomers have been an important source of employment and dynamism,” he says. “Canada typically recently has had issues around productivity, and much of the growth that’s being experienced is happening because of in-migration in this region.”

All of this is going to influence challenges like housing affordability, health care, education and quality of life that are being faced by residents across the larger cities, he believes.

"I think where we’ve struggled over the years, is matching growth with all the infrastructure that’s needed and all the community and social services that create communities," Semiatycki says.

This is a significant increase

Data from the last five years shows a slow, gradual increase in the Toronto region’s population between 2019 and 2022, from around 6.4 million to around 6.5 million.

But last year, the numbers skyrocketed with an increase of over 250,000 leading people.

The latest data suggests than more than 500,000 people have moved to the Toronto CMA in just two years.