P.E.I. ekes out a little population growth in July-September period

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and its dampening impact on immigration to Canada, P.E.I. was one of four provinces to record a rising population in the third quarter of 2020.

Statistics Canada released its population report for July to September of 2020 on Thursday morning.

P.E.I. came in behind Alberta as the second-fastest-growing province, with a 0.6-per-cent growth rate amounting to 88 people.

Despite speculation that more people might be moving to P.E.I. because it is considered a safe place to be during the pandemic, with no deaths or hospitalizations so far, interprovincial migration in 2020 has been largely a non-factor in population growth.

Taking into account the number of people leaving P.E.I. for other provinces and the number arriving, the Island had a net gain of 24 people in the first nine months of 2020, compared to eight for the same period a year earlier, in 2019.

In-migration figures in the third quarters of 2019 and 2020 were virtually identical.

With pandemic restrictions on international arrivals, overall immigration numbers remain down.

The number of immigrants arriving between July and September of 2020 amounted to about a third of what they were the year before. In the first nine months of 2020, the numbers are roughly halved compared to 2019.

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