Aging Population Requires Immigration Backfill: Canada’s Demographics Outlook to 2045

This annual economic forecast presents Canada’s long-term demographics outlook.

Document Highlights

The aging baby-boomer cohort is exiting the workforce.

Canadians 65 and older made up 18 per cent of the population in 2020. That share will hit 22.3 per cent in 2035, then ease to 21.5 per cent in 2045.

Deaths will rise faster than births and will outnumber them by 2032. Thereafter, population growth will come entirely from immigration.

Canada’s population will approach 47 million by 2045.

Data show that recent immigrants tend to be well-educated, industrious, and culturally diverse.