demographics
BRITISH COLUMBIA’S EVER-EXPANDING POPULATION Net international migration continues to drive population growth in BC, which is now home to more than 5 million people.
It was with an air of inevitably that the province’s population finally crossed the 5-million-person threshold in Q3 2018 after BC added 24,635 people from July through September. While of no pragmatic relevance, becoming just the third province in Canada with a population north of 5 million reflects BC’s continued attractiveness to people living elsewhere in the country and, to a much greater extent, those living abroad. By far the biggest contributor to growth in BC’s population in Q3 2018 was net international migration, which added 23,400 people and accounted for 95% of the provincial resident expansion. Natural increase—the difference between the number of people born and those who died—added 2,400 people, though its
contribution has been on the decline for years, a consequence of an aging population and a below-replacement fertility rate that has persisted since the mid-1970s. The latest available data show that net interprovincial migration was negative (extracting 1,200 people in Q3) after 21 consecutive quarters of net additions averaging +4,000 people. The landscape of economic opportunities across Canada is a significant influencer of the magnitude and direction of these flows and, in the case of BC, the health of Alberta’s oil patch is a prime factor. This will be something to watch as the rest of the data come in for 2018 and the beginning of 2019, as continued positive net inflows of migrants are needed to bolster BC’s workforce and facilitate continued growth in economic activity.
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