Subscribe to News
Back to SearchContact Us
Canada is becoming more urbanized, and the road to urbanization leads right through Waterloo Region and London, according to new figures released by Statistics Canada.
StatsCan reports that “Canada's population growth concentrated in urban regions, fuelled by permanent and temporary immigration.” The population of Canada's census metropolitan areas (CMAs) rose to 27.0 million (71.7%). CMAs outpaced growth in the rest of the country (1.7% versus 0.6%).
For a second consecutive year, Ontario was home to the fastest-growing CMAs, with Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo (+2.8%) leading the way, followed by London and the Ontario part of Ottawa–Gatineau (+2.3% each). The arrival of many permanent and temporary immigrants played a key role in their growth.
Permanent and temporary immigration continues to drive population growth in Canada's CMAs, accounting for almost all of their growth in 2018/2019. In contrast, international migration accounted for just over half of the population growth in non-CMAs of the country. This trend is linked to higher targets for permanent immigration, as defined by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, and to various government programs that draw many temporary workers and foreign students to the country.
Urban spread, as measured by the expansion of peripheral municipalities in metropolitan areas, continued over the past year in Canada's largest CMAs. Most often, the municipalities with the strongest growth were in suburban areas. For example, the municipalities of East Gwillimbury (+9.5%) and Milton (+5.0%) had the highest growth in the Toronto CMA (+2.0%).
Moreover, the three largest CMAs experienced urban spread beyond their borders. In 2018/2019, the CMAs of Toronto, Montréal and Vancouver continued to post steady population growth, mainly due to international migration. However, they also continued to lose people through their migratory exchanges with other regions within their respective provinces. The losses in Toronto (-47,838), Vancouver (-14,241) and Montréal (-14,117) contributed to the growth of areas just outside these CMAs.
The CMAs stand out for their higher population growth and also for their younger population. On July 1, 2019, the average age in the CMAs was 40.5 years, compared with 43.2 years in the regions outside a CMA. Although the CMA population is generally younger, it is also aging. From 2009 to 2019, the average age in the CMAs rose by 1.6 years, which was still less than the increase in the other regions (+2.3 years). The proportion of the population aged 65 and older in the CMAs (16.1%) was also lower than in the rest of the country (21.1%) on July 1, 2019.
Faster population aging in areas outside the CMAs is often linked to the migration of young adults out of these areas. Overall, more young adults leave areas outside a CMA to live in CMAs. In 2018/2019, the CMAs recorded net gains of almost 10,000 people aged 18 to 24 in their migratory exchanges with the regions outside the CMAs. The main reasons for this movement are to pursue post-secondary education and to join the labour market.