Winnipeg population growth slows down

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This article was published 05/11/2020 (1768 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — Winnipeg’s population growth, which is largely propped up by international immigration, is slowing down as people move to other cities in Canada, data released by Statistics Canada show.

The agency’s annual demographic estimates show Winnipeg’s population increased by 10,700 residents in 2019, down from 12,700 in 2018 and 15,000 in 2017. The data includes births, deaths, international immigration and domestic emigration.

Winnipeg’s estimated population on July 1, 2019, was 768,185. 

“The main driver behind slower population growth seems to be Manitobans moving to a different province,” wrote Max Turgeon, a University of Manitoba statistics professor. 

In 2019, Winnipeg had a net loss of 6,436 people due to interprovincial migration, meaning more people moved away than the number of people who moved to Winnipeg from another province. In 2017, the net loss was 3,941.

Despite this slowdown, the city continues to grow at a rate far higher than the previous two decades, according to the City of Winnipeg’s Community and Financial Trends report, which was released in June.

In 2019, Winnipeg’s population kept growing, but its losses were equally due to deaths and people moving to other provinces.

During that year, a whopping 48 per cent of Winnipeg’s population growth was due to international immigration; 37 per cent came from births.

“In fact, from 2018 to 2019, Winnipeg had the largest net loss in population from interprovincial migration out of all 35 census metropolitan areas in Canada,” reads the report, referring to the groupings of all major population centres in Canada.

One-third of those who left during that period went to Toronto, and one-fifth headed to Vancouver while the rest moved to Calgary, Edmonton or Ottawa.

However, the city report noted that population growth in the past decade has been higher than nominal increases in population in the 1990s, and meagre growth during the 2000s. 

The city reported that the provincial nominee program has accounted for much of Winnipeg’s growth since 2000.

The Manitoba legislature passed a motion this week that asks the federal government to increase the province’s quota under the nominee program, which lets businesses sponsor economic immigrants.

The city report said the long-term effect of COVID-19 on population growth is unclear, but it anticipates a temporary decrease in immigration due to the pandemic.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca