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Demographics ofCanada
Population pyramid of Canada in 2023
Population	41,465,298[1] (2024 Q4 est.)
Density	4.43/km2 (11.5/sq mi) (2022)[2]
Growth rate	0.66% (2025 est.)
Birth rate	9.94 births/1,000 population (2025 est.)
Death rate	8.12 deaths/1,000 population (2022 est.)
Life expectancy	83.8 years
• male	81.52 years
• female	86.21 years (2022 est.)
Fertility rate	1.25 children born/woman (2024 est.)
Infant mortality rate	4.38 deaths/1,000 live births
Net migration rate	5.46 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2022 est.)
Age structure
0–14 years	15.99%
65 and over	18.98%
Sex ratio
Total	0.98 male(s)/female (2022 est.)
At birth	1.05 male(s)/female
Under 15	1.06 male(s)/female
65 and over	0.75 male(s)/female
Nationality
Nationality	Canadian
Major ethnic	White (69.8%)[3][4]
Minor ethnic	South Asian (7.1%)[4] Indigenous (5%)[5] Chinese (4.7%)[4] Black (4.3%)[4] Filipino (2.6%)[4] Arab (1.9%)[4] Latin American (1.6%)[4] Southeast Asian (1.1%)[4] West Asian (1%)[4] Korean (0.6%)[4] Japanese (0.3%)[4] Multiracial/Other, excluding Métis (3.2%)[4]
Language
Official	English (55.97%) French (20.61%)
Spoken	Mandarin (1.7%) Cantonese (1.63%) Punjabi (1.44%) Spanish (1.32%) Tagalog (1.24%) Arabic (1.21%) German (1.1%) Italian (1.08%) Others (12.7%)
Language figures are from the2016 Canadian census and based on total number offirst language speakers (mother tongue), and not total number of individuals who may speak the language as asecond (L2),third (L3), or more language. Seeknowledge of languages for this information.

Statistics Canada conducts a country-wide census that collects demographic data every five years on the first and sixth year of each decade. The2021 Canadian census enumerated atotal population of 36,991,981, an increase of around 5.2 percent over the 2016 figure.^[6] It is estimated that Canada's population surpassed 40 million in 2023 and 41 million in 2024.^[7] Between 1990 and 2008, the population increased by 5.6 million, equivalent to 20.4 percent overall growth.^[8] The main driver of population growth isimmigration,^[9][10] with 6.2% of the country's population being made up oftemporary residents as of 2023,^[11] or about 2.5 million people.^[12] Between 2011 and May 2016, Canada's population grew by 1.7 million people, with immigrants accounting for two-thirds of the increase.^[13]

Canada has one of the highestper-capita immigration rates in the world,^[14] driven mainly byeconomic policy and, to a lesser extent,family reunification.^[15][16] In 2021, a total of 405,330 immigrants were admitted to Canada. New immigrants to Canada settle mostly in major urban areas such asToronto,Montreal, andVancouver.^[17] Canada also accepts large numbers ofrefugees,^[18] accounting for over 10 percent of annual globalrefugee resettlements.^[19][20]

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The2021 Canadian census had a total population count of 36,991,981 individuals, making up approximately 0.5% of the world's total population.^[6][21] A population estimate for 2024 put the total number of people in Canada at 41,012,563.^[22][23]

The vast majority of Canadians are positioned in a discontinuous band within approximately 300 km of the southern border with the United States; the most populated province is Ontario, followed by Quebec and British Columbia.^[26][27][28]

Thetotal fertility rate is the number of children born in a specific year cohort to the total number of women who can give birth in the country.

In 1971, the birth rate for the first time dipped below replacement^[31][32] and since then has not rebounded.^[31]

Canada'sfertility rate hit a record low of 1.25 children born per woman in 2024, maintaining its second year in a row with 'ultra-low fertility' (<1.30).^[33] In 2022, Canada also experienced the country's lowest absolute number of births in 17 years.^[34] From 2021 to 2022, Canada's TFR decreased by −7.4%, its largest drop in 50 years.^[35] The total birth rate is 10.17 births/1,000 population in 2022.^[23]

2024^[37]

Province/Territory	TFR
Nunavut	2.34
Saskatchewan	1.58
Manitoba	1.50
Alberta	1.41
Northwest Territories	1.39
Quebec	1.34
New Brunswick	1.26
Canada	1.25
Ontario	1.21
Newfoundland and Labrador	1.12
Prince Edward Island	1.10
Nova Scotia	1.08
Yukon	1.08
British Columbia	1.02

Canada is among late-childbearing countries, with the average age of mothers at the first birth being 31.3 years in 2020.^[10]

According toOrganisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)/World Bank, the population in Canada increased from 1990 to 2008 with 5.6 million and 20.4% growth in population, compared to 21.7% growth in theUnited States and 31.2% growth inMexico. According to the OECD/World Bank population statistics, for the same period theworld population growth was 27%, a total of 1,423 million people.^[38] However, over the same period, the population ofFrance grew by 8.0%. And from 1991 to 2011, the population of theUK increased by 10.0%.

The current population growth rate for Canada in 2022 was 0.75%.^[23]

Life expectancy in Canada has consistently risen since the country's formation.

School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)

total: 16 years

male: 16 years

female: 17 years (2016)

Infant mortality rate

total: 4.5 deaths/1,000 live births. Country comparison to the world: 180th

male: 4.8 deaths/1,000 live births

female: 4.2 deaths/1,000 live births (2017 est.)

Population by Sex and Age Group (Census 10.V.2016) (To ensure confidentiality, the values, including totals are randomly rounded either up or down to a multiple of '5' or '10.' As a result, when these data are summed or grouped, the total value may not match the individual values since totals and sub-totals are independently rounded. Similarly, percentages, which are calculated on rounded data, may not necessarily add up to 100%.):^[44]

Age structure^[23]

0–14 years: 15.99% (male 3,094,008/female 2,931,953)

15–24 years: 11.14% (male 2,167,013/female 2,032,064)

25–54 years: 39.81% (male 7,527,554/female 7,478,737)

55–64 years: 14.08% (male 2,624,474/female 2,682,858)

65 years and over: 18.98% (male 3,274,298/female 3,881,126) (2020 est.)

Median age

total: 41.8 years. Country comparison to the world:40th

male: 40.6 years

female: 42.9 years (2020 est.)

Median age in 2011

total: 40.6 years

male: 39.6 years

female: 41.5 years (2011)

Median age by province and territory in 2011^[45]

1. Newfoundland and Labrador: 44.0
2. Nova Scotia: 43.7
3. New Brunswick: 43.7
4. Prince Edward Island: 42.8
5. Quebec: 41.9
6. British Columbia: 41.9
7. Ontario: 40.4
8. Yukon: 39.1
9. Manitoba: 38.4
10. Saskatchewan: 38.2
11. Alberta: 36.5
12. Northwest Territories: 32.3
13. Nunavut: 24.1

at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female

0–14 years: 1.06 male(s)/female

15–24 years: 1.06 male(s)/female

25–54 years: 1.01 male(s)/female

55–64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female

65 years and over: 0.75 male(s)/female

total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2022 est).

Dependency ratios

total dependency ratio: 47.3

youth dependency ratio: 23.5

elderly dependency ratio: 23.8

potential support ratio: 4.2 (2015 est.)

Source:^{[46][47][48][49]}

Notable events in Canadian demographics:

• 1947-1966 –Mid-20th century baby boom

Period	Live births	Deaths	Natural increase
January–June 2024	179,879	165,538	+14,341
January–June 2025	183,065	168,678	+14,387
Difference	+3,186 (+1.8%)	+3,140 (+1.9%)	+46
Source:[50]

Note: all numbers in this table are provisional. While data for at least two years ago may be final, newer data for recent days are subject to change in the future. For example, as of September 25, 2024, The numbers are final up to December 2021, updated from January 2022 to March 2024 and preliminary from April 2024.

Unemployment, youth ages 15–24 (2020 est.)

total: 20.2%

male: 20.9%

female: 19.4%

All citizens of Canada are classified as "Canadians" as defined byCanada's nationality laws."Canadian" as an ethnic group has since 1996 been added to census questionnaires for possible ancestral origin or descent. "Canadian" was included as an example on the English questionnaire and "Canadien" as an example on the French questionnaire.^[52] The majority of respondents to this selection are from the eastern part of the country that was first settled. Respondents generally are visibly European (Anglophones and Francophones) and no longer self-identify directly with their ethnic ancestral origins. This response is attributed to a multitude of reasons such as generational distance from ancestral lineage, intermarriage with variety of ethnic groups, and loss of ancestral language.^[53][54]

According to the2021 Canadian census, over 450 "ethnic or cultural origins" were self-reported by Canadians.^[55] The majorpanethnic groups chosen were;European (52.5%),North American (22.9%),Asian (19.3%),North American Indigenous (6.1%),African (3.8%),Latin, Central and South American (2.5%),Caribbean (2.1%),Oceanian (0.3%), and Other (6%).^[55][56] Statistics Canada reports that 35.5% of the population reported multiple ethnic origins, thus the overall total is greater than 100%.^[55][b]

The country's ten largest self-reported specific ethnic or cultural origins in 2021 wereCanadian^[c] (accounting for 15.6 percent of the population), followed byEnglish (14.7 percent),Irish (12.1 percent),Scottish (12.1 percent),French (11.0 percent),German (8.1 percent),Indian (5.1 percent),^[d]Chinese (4.7 percent),Italian (4.3 percent), andUkrainian (3.5 percent).^[59]

Of the 36.3 million people enumerated in 2021 approximately 25.4 million reported being "White", representing 69.8 percent of the population.^[3][60][4] The Indigenous population representing 5 percent or 1.8 million individuals, grew by 9.4 percent compared to the non-Indigenous population, which grew by 5.3 percent from 2016 to 2021.^[61] One out of every four Canadians or 26.5 percent of the population belonged to a non-White and non-Indigenousvisible minority,^[4][e] the largest of which in 2021 wereSouth Asian (2.6 million people; 7.1 percent), Chinese (1.7 million; 4.7 percent) andBlack (1.5 million; 4.3 percent).^[60]

As data is completely self-reported, and reporting individuals may have varying definitions of "Ethnic origin" (or may not know their ethnic origin), these figures should not be considered an exact record of the relative prevalence of different ethno-cultural ancestries but rather how Canadians self-identify.

Data from this section from Statistics Canada, 2021.^[63]

The most common ethnic origins per province are as follows in 2006^[65] (total responses; only percentages 10% or higher shown; ordered by percentage of "Canadian"):

• Quebec (7,723,525): Canadian (59.1%),French (29.1%)
• New Brunswick (735,835):Canadian (50.3%), French (27.2%), English (25.9%), Irish (21.6%), Scottish (19.9%)
• Newfoundland and Labrador (507,265):Canadian (49.0%),English (43.4%), Irish (21.8%)
• Nova Scotia (906,170):Canadian (39.1%), Scottish (31.2%), English (30.8%), Irish (22.3%), French (17.0%), German (10.8%)
• Prince Edward Island (137,375):Scottish (39.3%), Canadian (36.8%), English (31.1%),Irish (30.4%), French (21.1%)
• Ontario (12,651,795):Canadian (23.3%), English (23.1%), Scottish (16.4%), Irish (16.4%), French (10.8%)
• Alberta (3,567,980):English (24.9%), Canadian (21.8%), German (19.2%), Scottish (18.8%), Irish (15.8%), French (11.1%)
• Manitoba (1,174,345):English (21.8%), German (18.6%), Canadian (18.5%), Scottish (18.0%),Ukrainian (14.9%), Irish (13.2%), French (12.6%), North American Indian (10.6%)
• Saskatchewan (1,008,760):German (28.6%), English (24.9%), Scottish (18.9%), Canadian (18.8%), Irish (15.5%), Ukrainian (13.5%), French (12.2%),North American Indian (12.1%)
• British Columbia (4,324,455):English (27.7%), Scottish (19.3%), Canadian (19.1%), German (13.1%),Chinese (10.7%)
• Yukon (33,320):English (28.5%), Scottish (25.0%), Irish (22.0%), North American Indian (21.8%), Canadian (21.8%), German (15.6%), French (13.1%)
• Northwest Territories (40,800):North American Indian (37.0%), Scottish (13.9%), English (13.7%), Canadian (12.8%), Irish (11.9%), Inuit (11.7%)
• Nunavut (31,700):Inuit (85.4%)

Italics indicates either that this response is dominant within this province, or that this province has the highest ratio (percentage) of this response among provinces.

Note: Indigenous population decline between 1991 and 1996 censuses attributed to change in criteria in census count; "the 1996 Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples used a more restrictive definition of Aboriginal".^[74]

Note: Other Indigenous and mixed Indigenous groups are not listed as their own, but they are all accounted for in total Indigenous

Statistics Canada projects that visible minorities will make up between 38.2% and 43.0% of the total Canadian population by 2041,^[81][82] compared with 26.5% in 2021.^[83][4] Among the working-age population (15 to 64 years), meanwhile, visible minorities are projected to represent between 42.1% and 47.3% of Canada's total population,^[81][82] compared to 28.5% in 2021.^[83][4]

The question on knowledge of languages allows for multiple responses, and first appeared on the1991 Canadian census.^[i] The following figures are from the 1991 Canadian census,2001 Canadian census,2011 Canadian census, and the2021 Canadian census.