Immigration critical to Canadian population growth reported from CBC News

Immigrants made up the vast majority of the 1.6 million new Canadians between 2001 and 2006, giving the country the highest population growth rate among G8 countries, new census data released Tuesday suggests.

Canada's population stands at 31,612,897, with a growth rate of 5.4 per cent during that five-year period.

That's up from the four per cent growth rate in the previous census period between 1996-2001.

Roughly 1.2 million new immigrants made up the bulk of the population growth outlined in the latest census, while the country's native-born population increased by 400,000.

"Our natural growth rate is lower [than] in the U.S. for example. Sixty per cent of their growth rate came from natural growth," said Anil Arora, the director general of Statistics Canada's census branch.

The fertility rate for Canadian women between 15 and 49 remained an average of 1.5 children, the same rate as in the previous census period. The fertility rate in the U.S. is 2.0.

An average 240,000 newcomers per year more than compensated for Canada's flat fertility rate.

Immigration could become the only source for population growth by 2030, when the peak of the baby boomers born in the 1950s and early '60s reach the end of their lifespans.

Other highlights include:

• Canada had a higher rate of population growth (5.4 per cent) than any other G8 country between 2001 and 2006. The population growth of the United States was second at five per cent.

• Between 2001 and 2006, the vast majority of Canada's population growth took place in metropolitan areas.

• Alberta and Ontario were responsible for two-thirds of Canada's population increase. Nearly all of the remaining third occurred in British Columbia and Quebec.

• The rural population increased by one per cent since 2001. In 2006, slightly fewer than one in five Canadians (six million people) lived in rural areas.

• Rural areas close to urban centres grew much faster (4.7 per cent) than remote rural areas (down 0.1 per cent).

• Nearly half (47 per cent) of the territories' population was living in one of the three capital cities in 2006.

Alice Daghavarian, Director of Immigration Services.