Nova Scotia’s population is up
Posted Sep 29, 2010 12:48:15 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Nova Scotia’s population stands at 942,500 people, according to second quarter results from Statistics Canada.
As of July 1st, 2010, the provincial population was up by about 11 hundred people from the previous quarter, 900 of whom are from net immigration migration.
Charles Cirtwill of the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies says Nova Scotia needs more immigrants and the province should be working to keep them here.
“We don’t know is how effective we are at getting those 900 people from the international side engaged in the community,” he says, “and that’s only going to tell over the next couple of years as we get into the retention rate.”
Historically, 60 per cent of immigrants who land in Nova Scotia leave for other parts of the country.
Canadian immigration consultant Paul Wildy says there is a visible trend.
“Certainly we’ve seen a big increase in people coming from the UK and Europe to Nova Scotia.”
But Wildly adds there are significant barriers for most folks hoping to make Nova Scotia their new home.
“In most cases they can’t get in because they don’t have the right occupation or sufficient net worth,” he says.
Statistics Canada also notes more than 100 people moved to Nova Scotia from other provinces in the second quarter, where last year during that time period more people were leaving for other provinces.
Nova Scotia also boasts the second oldest population in Canada (behind Newfoundland and Labrador), the most people over the age of 65 and the fewest people under the age of 14.
