As Canada’s population is set to become larger and older in the decades to come amid high immigration and low fertility, experts say these trends have huge implications for our housing and health care needs.
A report from Statistics Canada released on Monday projects Canada’s population could reach 47.8 million in 2043 and 56.5 million by 2068 under a medium-growth scenario. Other population projection scenarios say Canada’s population could grow to anywhere between 44.9 million and 74.0 million in 2068.
But the StatCan report noted that this could have an impact on the availability of housing. Last June, a report from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation projected the housing stock in the country to increase by 2.3 million units over the next decade, but said Canada needs an additional 3.5 million affordable housing units by 2030.
Mike Moffatt, a professor at Western University’s Ivey Business School and a senior director at the Smart Prosperity Institute, says the report illustrates that Canada’s housing supply is “not sufficient to keep up with the growing population.”
