Canada鈥檚 population will reach a major milestone today 鈥� 40 million people 鈥� and everyone with an internet connection can watch it happen in real time.

Statistics Canada鈥檚 website features a (real-time model) which records births, deaths, immigration, emigration and inter-provincial migration as each happens (is modeled).

As of 9:40 a.m. today there were 39,999,708 people in Canada 鈥� that number climbs or drops, moment by moment, with each event.

Featured on the page is a grey map of the country, on which provinces and territories light up in different colours each time a change is recorded 鈥� blue for a birth, red for a death and so on.

Next to that, the population of each province and territory is adjusted accordingly and a scrolling list of demographic events at the bottom of the page outlines the three most recent changes.

A posting on the Statistics Canada website notes this 40-million milestone comes following a record year of growth.

However, it isn鈥檛 births that are the main driving force behind the increase.

鈥淚n 2022, Canada鈥檚 population grew by an unprecedented 1.1 million people, most of them permanent and temporary immigrants,鈥� the site notes.

鈥淭hanks to this influx, the 40-million mark was reached even faster than expected.鈥�

The includes a detailed history of population growth in Canada, beginning with the estimated 200,000 to 2 million First Nations people who occupied the land when the first Europeans began arriving in the 16th century and concluding with a look ahead to the day, an estimated 20 years from now, that Canada鈥檚 population reaches 50 million people.

brenda.anderson@peacearchnews.com
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