The Statscan figures are sobering, but the provincial minister responsible for Immigration is encouraged by recent efforts to attract more people to live and work in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Statistics Canada figures released this week show Newfoundland and Labrador was the only province in Canada to see a drop in population (of approximately 9000 people) between 2016 and 2021.

Some of the biggest population drops have been in rural parts of the province, as deaths outpace new births and people up stakes and move elsewhere.

Some forecasts even show that Newfoundland and Labrador’s population will continue to shrink over the next 30 years.

Immigration Minister Gerry Byrne says the province is well aware of the difficulties in maintaining and building the population and says despite those challenges, they have met with some success in increasing immigration rates.

He says the data, which only includes the period up to May 11th 2021, is nearly a year old.

Byrne says the province actually saw population growth in the last three quarters of the last year.