When I’m out on the road working, or even when I’m socializing and don’t have handy reference material with me, I’m often asked about the population of Canada or one of the provinces. Therefore, I’ve worked out the following to help me remember.

These are the kinds of “rules of thumb” that I like so much. They put things in context and aid with memory.

Here’s hoping that you’ll find this useful as well.

The starting point is that the current population of Canada is about 33 million.

Ontario accounts for a little less than 40% of the nation’s total population − therefore about 13 million.

Québec is a little less than 25%, or one-quarter, of the total − therefore about 8 million.

All of the other provinces fill in after that.

British Columbia’s population is 4-and-a-half million.

Next-door Alberta’s population is 3-and-a-half million.

Manitoba and Saskatchewan have about one million people each.

Manitoba and Saskatchewan combined have about the same population as the Atlantic region.

Nova Scotia is the most populous province in the Atlantic, but it is still slightly less than one million. Prince Edward Island’s population is only 100,000-plus.

All of the northern territories (Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut) add up to only slightly more than 100,000.

Tomorrow, I’ll present the same kind of “quick” numbers for the major cities in Canada. Some of the ratios and comparisons are quite interesting.

By the way, the first-quarter 2008 population estimates for Canada and the provinces have just been released by Statistics Canada.

Alex Carrick

Find Canadian construction-related economic articles in Canadian Construction Market News and in the Economic Outlook section of Daily Commercial News.

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