Halifax is growing rapidly – but Moncton is the fastest- growing city

According to the most recent data inventory released from Statistics Canada, which covered the period between 1 July 2021 and 1 July 2022, Halifax municipality grew by 4.4 percent – with 20713 people moving to the region.

Meanwhile, Moncton grew by 5.3 percent during the same period, which indicates that Halifax has the second fastest-growing population to Moncton for growth in the country. This shows a more than double growth rate compared to Canada as a whole. The data shows that the majority of the 20713 residents are immigrants.

Last year, Montreal and Thunder Bay were the cities with the slowest growth rates of the major metropolitan areas. Montreal had a growth rate of 0.9%, and Thunder Bay grew at a rate of 0.2%. Charlottetown was reported to have one of the highest growth rates among the smaller urban areas, growing at a rate of 4.1%.

Patrick Brannon, a senior researcher at the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council, highlighted the challenges and opportunities for Atlantic Canada, “Population growth can be very positive, it can lead to growth, and we are seeing very strong GDP growth in the three Maritime provinces. We want to see increased population in our region and certainly our cities, but we need a better plan to deal with some of the housing and other infrastructure challenges."

The rapid population growth has resulted in higher prices in the real estate market. This has also brought about a shortage in apartments and homes, as the supply has not been able to keep up with the demands and needs of property buyers. Another concern in metropolitan areas in the medical field is that there need to be more doctors to meet the needs of the local community.

Considering all of the above, Canada has started moving strongly toward smaller urban center regions and found that 71.9 percent of Canadians were living in a metropolitan area of 100,000 or more as of 1 July 2022, which showed an increase of 0.1 percent compared to the previous year.

“On the face of it, it’s encouraging that Halifax is signaling to the world they want people to

come; it’s a place they want to be. Generally, when we see these numbers, it’s a positive

reaction. What stood out to me was the majority of newcomers or immigrants are driving this

growth”, said Jeffrey Biggar, an assistant professor at Dalhousie’s School of Planning