New census data shows that Toronto has continued to grow despite struggling with the pandemic, rent hikes, and home prices spiking.
Statistics Canada released the census for 2021 on Wednesday, reporting that though Toronto only grew by 2.3% (down from 4.5% between 2011 and 2016), downtown Toronto saw a population increase of over 16%, with 275,931 residents.
According to the #2021Census, #Canada is home to almost 37 million people, 1.8 million (+5.2%) more than in 2016. Check out the evolution of Canada’s 10 most populated municipalities from 1901 to 2021! https://t.co/ySuVcIl5pt pic.twitter.com/8azD0t3qru
— Statistics Canada (@StatCan_eng) February 9, 2022
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The overall population of the GTA now stands at 6.2 million.
Population in the “distant suburbs” of Toronto — described by Statistics Canada as areas 30 minutes or more by car from the city’s core — went up by +9.4%.
“Close to three-quarters of the total population growth in the Census Metropolitan Area stemmed from distant suburbs,” reported Stats Canada.
Surprisingly, Mississauga saw its population drop by 0.5%. Meanwhile, 50 km away from Toronto, the city of East Gwillimbury experienced a 44% jump in its population between 2016 and 2021.
This growth is in keeping with the fact that Canada remains the fastest-growing country in the G7 due to the arrival of 1.8 million immigrants in 2021.