The Northwest Territories’ population was 44,936 on October 1 according to estimates published on Tuesday, representing one-percent growth year on year.
The NWT’s population has essentially stagnated for the past decade, milling around the mid-44,000s.
However, the new figure of 44,936 is the largest on record.
The NWT has published estimates higher than 45,000 before, but a change in baseline data last year knocked 1,000 people off the territory’s population estimates and meant older estimates were adjusted downward.
Under the adjusted record, an estimated population of 44,934 in 2018 was the previous high.
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It is possible that the new estimates could themselves be adjusted downward in future. But the underlying data appears to suggest steady growth this year.
The territory’s estimated population has increased in four consecutive quarters for the first time since 2016.
Intra-provincial migration – movement to and from other parts of Canada – resulted in a net gain of 63 people between July and September this year.
Normally, intra-provincial migration results in a net loss of people as residents move south. Between July and September last year, the NWT had a net loss of 377.
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Over the past quarter, by contrast, 545 people arrived and only 482 left, giving the NWT its biggest intra-provincial boost since the first quarter of 2021. (The territory recorded an intra-provincial net loss of more than 200 people from January to June.)
Over the same July-September 2024 period, the NWT had a net gain of 106 international migrants – the smallest quarterly gain in this category since late 2022.
Since the start of 2023, international migration has added nearly 1,100 people to the territory’s population.
The NWT’s one-percent year-on-year growth is still comfortably below the Canadian average of 2.3 percent. Canada as a whole now has 41.4 million people.
