demographics
REGIONAL POPULATION GROWTH: CITY TRENDS
Surrey led all BC municipalities in population growth in 2019 as it continues on its trajectory to become the province’s largest municipality within the next 15 years.
Together, Metro Vancouver’s two largest municipalities—Vancouver and Surrey— accounted for 65% of regional population growth in 2019, easily exceeding their collective 51% share of the region’s existing population. All the credit goes to Surrey for this, as it only accounts for 23% of Metro Vancouver’s population while it accommodated 42% of regional growth (Vancouver accounts for 28% of people but attracted only 24% of regional growth). Given Surrey’s large land base, and the fact that it is able to add larger homes that are themselves able to accommodate larger households (i.e. more people) than the city of Vancouver, this is largely unsurprising.
The extent of population growth in Surrey does take one aback, however, when the raw numbers are considered. For example, in adding 16,382 people between 2018 and 2019, Surrey added 1,365 people every month, or 45 people every day. Vancouver, in comparison, added only 9,185 people, or 765 people each month. This in turn was about three times more additions thanwere realized in Burnaby, the third-fastest growing city in the region, which added only 3,926 people. With significant land constraints in many parts of the region, including the city of Vancouver, the region’s ability to grow will increasingly rely on all municipalities to plan for continued growth and the complementary need for housing.
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