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September 28, 2022NOVA SCOTIA QUARTERLY POPULATION ESTIMATES AS OF JULY 1, 2022 
Nova Scotia's population was 1,019,725 as of July 1, 2022. This continues Nova Scotia's accelerated population growth - rising by 12,365 (+1.23%) from April 1, 2022. This is the largest population increase for any quarter in the quarterly data going back to 1971.
Compared with July 1, 2021, Nova Scotia's population increased by 28,608 (+2.89%).
Since ending a period of population decline on April 1, 2015 Nova Scotia's population has increased by 83,454.
Nova Scotia's population growth this quarter reflected immigration, rising in-migration from other provinces, and large gain in net non-permanent residents. Natural population change (births less deaths) continues to draw Nova Scotia's population down.
There are seasonal patterns in quarterly population changes, particularly evident in births and migration. From April 1 to June 30, 2022, Nova Scotia posted a population increase that is more than twice as large than any other Q2 period in fifty years.
From April 1, 2022 to June 30, 2022 Nova Scotia’s population increased 1.23%, while the national population grew 0.74%. Nova Scotia had the second fastest population growth in the quarter among the provinces after Prince Edward Island.
Compared with July 1, 2021 Nova Scotia’s population increased 2.89%, while the national population grew by 1.84%. Nova Scotia's population growth over this period was the second fastest among the provinces. Prince Edward Island (+3.60%) had the fastest growth over past year while the slowest was in Newfoundland and Labrador (+1.06%).
Immigration from other countries has been a strong contributor to population growth in Nova Scotia in recent years. While immigration slowed during periods of border restrictions over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a strong resurgence of immigration since July 1, 2021. Immigration to the province was 3,502 in the period from April 1 to June 30. This is the second largest increase in immigration for a quarter, after only Q4 2021, since 1946.
The net change in non-permanent residents in the province was an inflow of 3,422 from April 1 to June 30. This was a larger increase from net non-permanent residents than has been observed in any recent quarter.
Nova Scotia’s natural population change (the number of births less the number of deaths) has been negative for several years. Between April 1 and June 30 there were 2,079 births and 2,774 deaths, amounting to an natural population decline of 695.
A total of 11,646 new Nova Scotians arrived in the province from other parts of Canada from April 1 to June 30. This was well above any period in past 20 years.
A total of 5,487 Nova Scotians left the province bound for other parts of Canada from April 1 to June 30.
The net change in Nova Scotia's population from interprovincial migration was a gain of 6,159 from April 1 to June 30. A significant increase from the 4,212 during the Q2 2021 period. From July 1 2021 to July 1 2022 there were 14,079 more in-migrants to Nova Scotia than out-migrants.
The number of in-migrants to Nova Scotia from April 1 to June 30 2022 increased by 3,027 from the same period in 2021. There were notable increases in in-migrants from Ontario with 6,790 in-migrants in the April 1 to June 30, 2022 period. There were more in-migrants from each province except New Brunswick compared to the same period last year.
Out-migration from Nova Scotia to other provinces increased by 1,080 for April 1 to June 30 compared with the same period in 2021. Out-migration increased the most to Ontario and Alberta.
Comparing net interprovincial migration from April 1 to June 30 2022 with the same period last year, overall net migration is higher by 1,947. The largest increases in net migration were from Ontario, British Columbia and Prince Edward Island. This quarter, Nova Scotia was a net recipient of migrants from every province except New Brunswick.
Source: Statistics Canada. Table 17-10-0009-01 Population estimates, quarterly; Table 17-10-0020-01 Estimates of the components of interprovincial migration, quarterly; Table 17-10-0040-01 Estimates of the components of international migration, quarterly; Table 17-10-0045-01 Estimates of interprovincial migrants by province or territory of origin and destination, quarterly; Table 17-10-0059-01 Estimates of the components of natural increase, quarterly
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