Population
Population is the number of people in an area who are dependent on similar resources and interact with the environment in similar ways. In Canada, the population in 2020 was estimated to be 37,742,154 according to UN data (worldometers.info/world-population/Canada-population/). How do we know about the population of Canada? One of the ways is through a census.
The census was created in 1967 and it was first administered in 1971. The census is a form that includes questions from a variety of topics that tell the government about the make-up of the population. Questions include topics such as, ethnic origin, indigenous ancestry, visible minorities, changes in residence, education, health, employment and the home the respondent lives in. The form is mandatory and there is a $500 fine if you do not complete it. The questions change over time and the census is completed every five years to capture the changes in the growing population (https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/population).
Population changes are determined by many factors, such as, birth rate, death rate, rate of natural increase, fertility rate, total fertility rate, growth rate, net migration, and immigration. But the population growth mostly relies on two things, natural increase and net migratory increase. Natural increase is the difference between births and deaths in a certain time period. Migratory increase is the difference between the number of immigrants entering to the number of emigrants leaving the country (https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/population). Changes in any of these factors could change the population drastically. The chart below shows the key terms.
Did you know immigration accounted for over 80% of Canada’s population growth? This means that it also contributed to the economic and cultural growth in Canada. The other 20% was only through natural growth. According to the 2020 Annual Report to Parliament on Immigration, by 2030 it is expected that Canada’s population growth will rely exclusively on immigration. Why is immigration important? Over 25% of Canada’s population is immigrants. This is important because they contribute to the labour force, they contribute to the community, they take part in civic action (i.e., voting) and they contribute to the economy. (https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/annual-report-parliament-immigration-2020.html).
How do we graph the population? Well, people often use something called a population pyramid. It shows the amount of people, of a certain gender and of a certain age. For example, the population pyramid below shows Canada’s population in 2019. The graph represents the amount of people as a percentage. As you can see, the younger population has a smaller percentage because of the low birthrate since 2000. After the age of seventy, the percentage of population significantly decreases as it moves from 2.2 to 1.4 percent, which means the life expectancy for this population in 2019 was close to the age of 70.
Most recently, COVID19 has affected the population in a significant and drastic way. The life expectancy has been reduced for the entire world and the birth rate too. COVID has been devastating to the world and according to CTV news, Canada’s population growth “essentially stopped” in 2020 from July 1st to October 1st. The population only increased by 2767 people through both natural increase and migratory increase (https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/canada-s-population-growth-essentially-stopped-from-july-to-october-due-to-covid-19-statcan-1.52381670. Which means, the ratio of deaths to the ratio of newborn and people that moved here is way lower than the deaths. The population is decreasing rapidly but as the COVID cases reduce so do the deaths.
So you can see, the population is affected by a lot of things and can create a big impact on the economic and cultural growth of a country. Immigration plays a big role in Canada’s population growth. Graphs and pyramids help us map, track and predict trends in the population. COVID has affected the population so much and has brought the country and the rest of the world to a standstill. With advances in technical and scientific breakthroughs, the global community is gradually rebuilding and investing in growing their populations. The make-up of a population is what makes Canada thrive and succeed as a diverse society with a strong economic and social foundation.
References
4. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/population