Facts & Figures from the latest Quarterly Demographic Estimates release

Source: Statistics Canada

British Columbia continues to see wide swings in its net flow of non-permanent residents (temporary foreign workers and students), with the province experiencing its largest quarterly net outflow in history in Q4 2015, at -8,157. This was equivalent to almost 1/3 of Canada's net loss of 24,980 non-permanent residents in the same period. As a result, net international migration to BC was actually negative in the last three months of 2015, at -2,362.

British Columbia was one of three provinces that received a net inflow of interprovincial migrants in Q4 2015--the 11th consecutive quarter of positive inflows for the province. Additionally, at 3,762, the net inflow of interprovincial migrants to BC at the end of 2015 was equivalent to more than three times the combined net inflow to the only other provinces with positive net interprovincial migration: Ontario (951) and Nova Scotia (187). Not surprisingly, Alberta experienced a net loss of people to other parts of Canada in Q4 2015, at -1,640--the 7th consecutive quarter of net interprovincial outflows from that province.

Canada's population passed the 36 million-person threshold through the end of 2015, with the national population sitting at an estimated 36.05 million on January 1st, 2016. This continues the trend of Canada adding one million people every 11-12 quarters; at this rate, we can expect the country to pass the 37 million-resident threshold towards the end of 2018 or in early-2019.

Net international migration to Canada was 35,385 in Q4 2015--significantly greater than the 588 net international migrants that came to the country in Q4 2014. This was the result of two factors: an increase in immigration (to 71,943, from 52,044 in the same quarter one year earlier) and a decline in the net outflow of non-permanent residents (to a net loss of 24,980 people, from a net loss of 39,878 in Q4 2014).