Foresight: Canadian Demographics

By the 2006 census, there were 31,612,897 people in Canada, a growth rate of 5.4% between 2001 and 2006 (compared to just 4% in the previous five year period). This was the highest growth rate of any G8 country. Significant elements to the growth pattern include:

the fact that two-thirds of Canada's population growth was a result of net international migration
Alberta and Ontario were responsibile for two-thirds of the nation's population increase - with Alberta having a growth rate of 10.6% from 2001 to 2006, twice the national average
the vast majority of population growth took place in census metropolitan areas and by 2006 more than 80% of Canadians were living in urban areas
between 2001 and 2006, the growth rate of peripheral municipalities surrrounding the central municipalities of Canada's 33 census metropolitan areas was double the national average (11.1% vs. 5.4%)
the rural population increased only 1% from 2001 to 2006 with most of the rural growth taking place close to urban centres (4.7% growth compared to 0.1% for more remote rural areas)

Canada's population pyramid continues to age, one year at a time, with only the age of immigrants changing the pattern. By 2006:

parents of baby boomers (born 1922 to 1938; aged 68-84 in 2006) represent fewer than 10% of the overall population
the second world war cohort (born bewteen 1939 and 1945; aged 61-67 in 2006) made up 6.4%
baby bommers (born from 1946 to 1965) made up more than 40% of the population
the baby busters followed (born from 1966 to 19784; aged 32-40 in 2006), a period when fertility declined dramatically in Canada, represented 12.4%
while the shadow baby boomers, children of baby boomers (born from 1975 to 1995; aged 11-31 in 2006) made up 27.5% of all Canadians.