PEI Population Report Quarterly

Population Report, Second Quarter 2024

DIAGRAM 1: PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND POPULATION, QUARTERLY, 2019 - 2024

On September 25, 2024 Statistics Canada published its provincial population estimates for the second quarter of 2024. The data shows Prince Edward Island’s population was estimated to be 178,550 as of July 1, 2024. This represents a yearly increase of 4,837 persons or a 2.8 percent annual growth rate. This is the fourth highest year-over-year growth rate among provinces and territories, behind Alberta (4.4%), Ontario (3.2%), and British Columbia (3.0%). PEI’s year-over-year population growth has slowed in each of the past three quarters, after reaching an all-time high of 4.0 percent during the third quarter of 2023.

Canada’s population reached 41,288,599 as of July 1, 2024, an increase of 3.0 percent over one year ago.

The quarterly estimates since April 1, 2022 and growth rates for Canada and Prince Edward Island can be seen in Table 1.

TABLE 1: NATIONAL AND PROVINCIAL POPULATION & GROWTH RATES, QUARTERLY

	Canada		Prince Edward Island
Quarter	Population	Growth rate (%)	Population	Growth rate (%)
Apr. 1, 2022	38,682,424	0.3	165,574	0.9
Jul. 1, 2022	38,935,934	0.7	167,213	1.0
Oct. 1, 2022	39,279,501	0.9	169,032	1.1
Jan. 1, 2023	39,527,986	0.6	170,077	0.6
Apr. 1, 2023	39,748,878	0.6	171,856	1.0
Jul. 1, 2023	40,083,484	0.8	173,713	1.1
Oct. 1, 2023	40,513,781	1.1	175,871	1.2
Jan. 1, 2024	40,784,356	0.7	176,318	0.3
Apr. 1, 2024	41,038,370	0.6	177,318	0.6
Jul. 1, 2024	41,288,599	0.6	178,550	0.7

All jurisdictions saw a year-over-year population increase July 1, 2024 compared to July 1, 2023. Population estimates for July 1, 2023 and 2024 for all provinces and territories are shown in Table 2 below. The population growth rates and level change for the twelve-month period ending June 30, 2024 are also included.

TABLE 2: POPULATION OF PROVINCES & TERRITORIES, JULY 1, 2023, 2024 & ANNUAL GROWTH RATES

	Jul 1, 2023	Jul 1, 2024	Growth	Level
CAN	40,083,484	41,288,599	3.0%	1,205,115
NL	538,907	545,247	1.2%	6,340
PEI	173,713	178,550	2.8%	4,837
NS	1,056,486	1,076,374	1.9%	19,888
NB	832,190	854,355	2.7%	22,165
QC	8,848,020	9,056,044	2.4%	208,024
ON	15,623,207	16,124,116	3.2%	500,909
MB	1,454,743	1,494,301	2.7%	39,558
SK	1,209,307	1,239,865	2.5%	30,558
AB	4,684,514	4,888,723	4.4%	204,209
BC	5,531,553	5,698,430	3.0%	166,877
YK	45,463	46,704	2.7%	1,241
NWT	44,681	44,731	0.1%	50
NU	40,700	41,159	1.1%	459

Components of Growth

The total increase in PEI’s population during the second quarter of 2024 (April 1, 2024 to June 30, 2024) was 1,232 people.

Natural Increase

There were 310 births and 388 deaths on Prince Edward Island from April 1, 2024 to June 30, 2024, resulting in natural growth (births minus deaths) of -78. Deaths have outpaced births in each quarter since the third quarter of 2021.

International Migration

During second quarter of 2024, 1,169 international immigrants came to the province, down from 1,330 during the first quarter. At a rate of 6.6 per thousand , the province had the highest quarterly immigration rate in the country, ahead of Saskatchewan at 6.0 per thousand. The immigration rate for Canada was 3.3 per thousand.

Net international migration was estimated to be 1,069 persons during the second quarter of 2024. This consisted of the aforementioned 1,169 international immigrants, plus 1,040 non-permanent residents (NPRs) and 32 returning Canadians entering the province, while 1,117 NPRs and 55 international emigrants left the province. Net international migration for PEI over the last 12-month period (July 2023 to June 2024) was 5,073. This compares to 5,391 over the previous 12-month period.

It was estimated that 1,040 non-permanent residents came to PEI during the second quarter of 2024, while 1,117 NPRs left the province, for a net change of -77. As of July 1, 2024, there were 11,323 NPRs on PEI consisting of 5,907 work permit holders, 3,897 study permit holders, 1,031 with both work and study permits, 406 other permit holders, and 82 asylum claimants. NPRs include foreign workers, foreign students, the humanitarian population and other temporary residents. The humanitarian population includes refugee claimants and temporary residents who are allowed to remain in Canada on humanitarian grounds and are not categorized as either foreign workers or foreign students.

Inter-provincial Migration

A total of 1,644 inter-provincial migrants came to PEI during the second quarter of 2024, while 1,403 people left the province for other areas of Canada, for a net interprovincial gain of 241. This compares to a net gain of 493 persons over the same period in 2023. As shown in Table 3, the primary source of PEI’s inter-provincial in-migrants during this period was from Ontario, followed by Nova Scotia and Alberta. The main destinations of out-migrants from Prince Edward Island were also Ontario, Nova Scotia, and Alberta. Alberta gained the most from inter-provincial migration, with 30.8 percent of all interprovincial migrants from other provinces destined for Alberta.

TABLE 3: ORIGIN & DESTINATION OF INTER-PROVINCIAL MIGRANTS, APRIL 1, 2024 TO JUNE 30, 2024

	DESTINATION
ORIGIN	N.L.	P.E.I.	N.S.	N.B.	Que.	Ont.	Man.	Sask.	Alta.	B.C.	Y.T.	N.W.T.	Nvt.
N.L.	0	35	455	186	115	706	17	6	618	254	0	35	44
P.E.I.	55	0	393	117	103	414	41	0	189	83	0	0	8
N.S.	251	233	0	685	338	2,184	61	74	1,135	676	0	11	45
N.B.	229	144	596	0	931	1,326	88	0	584	281	0	12	5
Que.	78	138	288	446	0	5,931	492	105	1,067	885	126	12	88
Ont.	1,217	752	3,096	2,241	5,401	0	2,263	1,248	10,056	7,898	152	97	270
Man.	27	64	106	79	276	1,778	0	570	1,617	1,519	0	10	41
Sask.	13	23	78	53	117	1,676	525	0	3,206	1,417	64	21	43
Alta.	548	152	1,068	629	749	4,872	943	2,269	0	8,087	149	166	105
B.C.	264	103	754	402	1,186	6,017	986	1,342	10,582	0	123	115	67
Y.T.	10	0	6	31	18	117	6	50	107	287	0	0	0
N.W.T.	19	0	74	19	32	177	11	26	188	115	6	0	28
Nvt.	55	0	45	9	81	282	36	4	42	37	0	51	0

	N.L.	P.E.I.	N.S.	N.B.	Que.	Ont.	Man.	Sask.	Alta.	B.C.	Y.T.	N.W.T.	Nvt.
IN	2,766	1,644	6,959	4,897	9,347	25,480	5,469	5,694	29,391	21,539	620	530	744
OUT	2,471	1,403	5,693	4,196	9,656	34,691	6,087	7,236	19,737	21,941	632	695	642
NET	295	241	1,266	701	-309	-9,211	-618	-1,542	9,654	-402	-12	-165	102

Prince Edward Island quarterly components of growth from January 1, 2022 to July 1, 2024 can be seen in table 4.

TABLE 4: PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND QUARTERLY POPULATION AND COMPONENTS OF GROWTH JANUARY 1 2022 – JULY 1 2024

Quarter	Population	(+) Births	(-) Deaths	(+) Immigrants	(+) Other International*	(+) Interprovincial In-Migration	(-) Interprovincial Out-Migration
Jan 1, 2022	164,164	323	414	652	115	1,421	687
Apr 1, 2022	165,574	352	363	868	362	2,031	1,611
Jul 1, 2022	167,213	331	410	835	1,219	922	1,078
Oct 1, 2022	169,032	320	429	313	425	1,220	804
Jan 1, 2023	170,077	338	429	1,274	-122	1,838	1,120
Apr 1, 2023	171,856	292	375	694	753	1,918	1,425
Jul 1, 2023	173,713	365	422	826	1,427	1,088	1,126
Oct 1, 2023	175,871	341	443	824	-85	643	833
Jan 1, 2024	176,318	363	444	1,330	-318	1,203	1,134
Apr 1, 2024	177,318	310	388	1,169	-100	1,644	1,403
Jul 1, 2024	178,550

Related downloads for this release:

PEI Population Report Quarterly PDF (179KB)

Notes:

These are preliminary data that will be revised over the coming year.

These estimates are based on 2021 Census of Population counts, adjusted for census net undercoverage and incompletely enumerated Indian reserves. To these counts, the population growth estimates for the period from May 11, 2021, to the date of the estimate are added.

Immigration rates are calculated by the PEI Statistics Bureau based on Statistics Canada population estimates.