A new report from the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council says Atlantic Canada’s top six cities, including St. John’s, have seen the population grow by more than 20 per cent over the last twenty years while the population in the rest of the region declined.
The top six cities are St. John’s, Halifax, Charlottetown, Fredericton, Moncton and Saint John.
Senior policy analyst with APEC, Fred Bergman, says the population in those cities has grown by about 21 per cent, while the rest of the region experienced a decline of 7 per cent. Bergman says some of that is due to the economic growth in cities.
He explains that cities tend to attract more people due to urbanization trends and higher wages. Bergman says they tend to have a different industry structure than most rural areas, which leads to stronger economic growth.
According to Bergman, the challenging age dynamics in rural regions make it more difficult to attract and retain people.
He says many immigrants that come to Newfoundland and Labrador tend to migrate into the larger, urban centres like St. John’s. Bergman says that back in 2019, about 70 per cent of immigrants went to the capital city.
However, APEC says greater remote work post-COVID-19 could lead to more people moving back to the Atlantic region from larger cities across Canada, which could potentially benefit both urban and rural areas.
