Alberta has reached a new milestone, surpassing a population of five million residents.
According to Statistics Canada’s live population tracker, Alberta’s population officially hit five million as of Monday.
Canada’s total population currently sits at 41.6 million people, with Alberta now the fourth most populous province.
The last major population milestone for Alberta was in in October 2023, when the province reached four million–making this a significant growth over 12 years.
The Alberta government projects that by 2051, the province will exceed a population of seven million people, with the majority of growth driven by international immigration.
Only 24 per cent of the population growth seen in Alberta is expected to come from natural increase.
Most of the overall population growth will be concentrated in Calgary and Edmonton according to a provincial government report.
Alberta’s population has surged over the past two years, rising in 2023 by 3.9 per cent and 4.4 per cent in 2024/ The province has led the country in population growth for six quarters in a row.
Premier Danielle Smith has actively encouraged population growth, stating in September that she wanted Alberta’s population to double by reaching more than 10 million people by 2025.
To support this growth, Smith’s UCP government pledged last year to invest in 30 new school projects and eight school modernizations annually for the next three years.
According to the 2021 Census, the most common countries of birth for immigrants living in Alberta were the Philippines, India, and China.