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Section 2: Economic regions
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The economic regions (ERs) with the highest growth rates in the past year
According to the population estimates as of July 1, 2009, the 10 fastest-growing ERs in the previous year were located west of Ontario. They all had population growth rates higher than the Canadian average of 12.3 per thousand. Six of them were in Alberta.
The 10 fastest-growing ERs were the same as in 2007/2008, but in a different order. Western Canada has had a higher population growth rate than the eastern part of the country for a number of years.
The Wood Buffalo – Cold Lake ER in Alberta posted the highest annual rate of population growth, 35.0 per thousand, after coming second in 2008. Second and third place went to Calgary (31.4 per thousand) and South Central Manitoba (26.5 per thousand). Four other Alberta ERs were in the top 10 in annual population growth: Edmonton (24.5 per thousand) in fifth place, Banff – Jasper – Rocky Mountain House (20.9 per thousand) in seventh, Red Deer (20.2 per thousand) in eighth, and Lethbridge – Medicine Hat (19.8 per thousand) in ninth.
Saskatoon – Biggar in Saskatchewan has had a higher growth rate in recent years. The ER now ranks fourth, with a growth rate of 25.0 per thousand, up from eighteenth in 2006/2007 (14.9 per thousand).
Manitoba had two ERs in the top 10: the South Central ER in third (26.5 per thousand) and the Southeast ER in sixth (22.5 per thousand).
The tenth-fastest-growing ER was Lower Mainland – Southwest in British Columbia, at 19.3 per thousand. It ranked fifth in 2007/2008.
The economic regions with the highest rates of decline in the past year
According to the July 1, 2009, population estimates, six of the 10 ERs with the highest rates of population decrease in the previous year were in the Maritimes.
As was the case the year before, the South Coast – Burin Peninsula ER in Newfoundland and Labrador had the highest rate of population decline, -11.0 per thousand. Three Nova Scotia ERs and two New Brunswick ERs were also among the ERs with the highest rates of decrease: Campbellton – Miramichi in second place (-10.9 per thousand), Southern Nova Scotia in third (-10.2 per thousand), Cape Breton in fourth (-9.8 per thousand), Edmundston – Woodstock in sixth (-7.4 per thousand), and Annapolis Valley in tenth (-4.0 per thousand).
Ontario had two ERs on this year’s list of ERs with the highest rates of population decline: the Northwest ER in eighth place (-5.9 per thousand) and Windsor – Sarnia in ninth (-4.8 per thousand).
As was the case the year before, Parklands ER in Manitoba ranked sixth (-8.2 per thousand), though its rate of decrease was lower this year.
The Northwest Territories ER experienced its first decline since 2005/2006. Interprovincial migration losses were responsible for the decrease.
The youngest economic regions
For the purposes of this article, median age will be used as an indicator of population aging. The median age is the age, “x”, that divides the population into two equal halves, one older than “x” and the other younger than “x”.
According to the July 1, 2009 population estimates, 10 ERs (13.2%) had a population whose median age was less than or equal to 35. Those ERs were much younger than the Canadian population, which has a median age of 39.5.
Three of the 10 youngest ERs were in Alberta. The others were scattered across the country.
The Northern Saskatchewan ER, which includes the towns of La Ronge and La Loche, was the youngest ER in Canada, with a median age of 23.3. The Nunavut ER ranked second with a median age of 24.2, followed by North Manitoba (26.4), Nord-du-Québec (28.6) and Northwest Territories (31.5).
Large Aboriginal populations, with their higher fertility rates, helped keep the median ages in those ERs below the national average.
The oldest economic regions
On July 1, 2009, 43 ERs (56.6%) had a median age of at least 40.
Quebec had three of the 10 oldest ERs in Canada, and the Maritimes had five.
Quebec’s Gaspésie – Îles-de-la-Madeleine was Canada’s oldest ER, with a median age of 47.1. Two other ERs, Southern Nova Scotia and Notre Dame – Central Bonavista Bay in Newfoundland and Labrador, had populations whose median age was above 46. Close behind were Ontario’s Muskoka ER and Newfoundland and Labrador’s South Coast – Burin Peninsula, with exactly 46.0.
The high median ages in those ERs were probably due, in part, to migration by young people to other parts of Canada.
