On June 16, Statistics Canada released data showing that as of April this year, Canada's total population has exceeded 37 million, specifically reaching 37,067,011. Since the founding of the federation, Canada's population growth had been quite slow; it took 17 years from 1867 to 1884 to add one million people. However, in the last 50 years, thanks to robust immigration policies, Canada has added approximately 17 million people.
International migration has been the primary driver of this growth. In the first quarter of this year, the population increased by 100,000, with new immigrants and non-permanent residents accounting for 88,000, or 85% of the total.
In contrast, natural population growth within Canada accounted for only 15% of the total increase. In the first quarter of this year, there were only 94,000 births, while the number of deaths reached 79,000. This means the natural increase was only 15,000.
According to Statistics Canada data, 35% of the new population resides in Canada's three largest metropolitan areas, including the Greater Toronto Area, Greater Vancouver, and the Montreal area.
Among these, Ontario, where Toronto is located, is the most densely populated province in the country, with 14.19 million people living there—more than the combined total of the four Atlantic provinces and the four Western Canadian provinces.
However, Ontario's current total population is less than that of China's Guangdong Province. Guangdong's population is currently over 100 million, more than double Canada's total population. For Chinese individuals, Canada remains a country with a "vast territory and sparse population."
In global population rankings, Canada currently ranks 38th. China remains at the top with 1.4 billion, India is second with 1.3 billion, and the United States is third.
Although this population data did not provide specific figures for the Chinese-Canadian population, according to the 2017 Canadian national census, Chinese-Canadians accounted for 5.1% of the total national population, ranking seventh among all ethnic groups.
It is evident that the Chinese community in Canada is a large group. Immigrating to Canada means not only having many Chinese friends around but also not having to worry about integration issues.