OTTAWA, March 13 (UPI) -- New Canadian homes are popping up at a faster rate than new Canadians, the country's latest census shows.
Statistics Canada said Tuesday that while the nation's population rose 5.4 percent from 2001-06, the number of occupied private dwellings jumped 7.5 percent. That continues a trend that started in 1971, according to the Ottawa-based census agency.
The new census put the total number of homes at 12,435,520, up from 11,562,976 five years earlier. It tallied 31,612,897 people in Canada, compared with 30,007,094 in 2001. Robust immigration is the primary reason for the first census-to-census increase since 1991, accounting for two-thirds of the growth spurt.
The fastest-growing provinces in Canada were Alberta and Ontario. Barrie, north of Toronto, was the fastest-growing metropolitan area, followed by Calgary.
Population declines were recorded in Newfoundland and Labrador and Saskatchewan.
Four out of five Canadians live in urban areas of 10,000 people or more. Calgary and Edmonton joined Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Ottawa-Gatineau on Canada's list of metropolitan areas with at least 1 million people.
