Grade by Grade
D. Changing Populations · Changing Populations: Canada's People, Patterns and Trends

Where Canadians Live: Population Distribution, Density and the Factors Behind Them

D1.4 A1.4About 70 minutes
Learning goals
  • I can describe the pattern of population distribution in Canada.
  • I can calculate and compare population density for provinces, territories and communities.
  • I can explain how physical, economic, historical, political and social factors affect population size, distribution and density.
  • I can assess which factors are most important in a particular place and support my judgement with evidence.

Words to know

population distribution
The pattern of where people live across an area.
population density
The number of people per unit of area, usually people per km²: population ÷ land area.
ecumene
The part of a country where most people live and work permanently.
census metropolitan area (CMA)
A large urban area with a total population of at least 100,000, of which at least 50,000 live in the core (Statistics Canada).
Quebec City–Windsor corridor
The densely populated strip of southern Quebec and southern Ontario along the St. Lawrence River and the lower Great Lakes.
growing season
The number of days between the last spring frost and the first fall frost, when crops can grow.
permafrost
Ground that stays frozen for at least two years in a row.
dot density map
A map that uses one dot to stand for a set number of people, showing where they cluster.

Hook: an empty country?

Canada is the second-largest country in the world by area, yet in 2021 it had only 4.2 people per km² of land (Statistics Canada). That sounds empty. But most Canadians live in crowded cities, stuck in traffic on the 401 or packed into the Montréal métro. How can a country be both empty and crowded? The answer is distribution: people are not spread evenly.

Remember from Grade 8

You learned that population density = population ÷ area, that places can be densely or sparsely populated, and that the ecumene is where most people live. Now you will look closely at Canada's pattern and assess which factors matter most.

Canada's pattern

  • Most Canadians live in a narrow band in the south, close to the border with the United States.
  • The busiest part is the Quebec City–Windsor corridor, which includes Toronto, Montréal and Ottawa–Gatineau.
  • Other clusters: the Lower Mainland of British Columbia (Vancouver), the Calgary–Edmonton corridor, and cities across the Prairies and Atlantic Canada.
  • The North (the territories and the northern parts of the provinces) covers most of Canada's land but has a small share of its people.
  • In 2021, 27.3 million people, nearly three in four Canadians, lived in one of Canada's 41 census metropolitan areas (Statistics Canada).
Population density, 2021 (people per km² of land)0.05.010.015.020.025.030.0Prince Edward Island27.2Nova Scotia18.4Ontario15.9New Brunswick10.9Alberta6.7Quebec6.5British Columbia5.4Canada4.2Manitoba2.5Saskatchewan2.0Newfoundland and Labrador1.4Yukon0.1Northwest Territories0.0Nunavut0.0Source: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census. NWT and Nunavut round to 0.0.
Density varies a lot. PEI is the most densely populated province; the territories have huge areas and small populations, so their densities round to almost zero.
Worked example

Let's calculate and compare densities

In 2021, Ontario had 14,223,942 people on 892,412 km² of land. Nunavut had 36,858 people on 1,836,994 km². Calculate both densities and compare.

  1. Ontario: 14,223,942 ÷ 892,412 ≈ 15.9 people per km².
  2. Nunavut: 36,858 ÷ 1,836,994 ≈ 0.02 people per km².
  3. Compare: 15.9 ÷ 0.02 ≈ 800. Ontario is roughly 800 times as dense as Nunavut.
  4. Think further: Nunavut's population is clustered in about 25 communities, so people do live close together. Density for a whole territory hides that.

Ontario ≈ 15.9 per km²; Nunavut ≈ 0.02 per km². A provincial average hides how clustered people are.

What a density looks like: people in one km²Canada: 4.2Ontario: 15.9PEI: 27.2Each square = 1 km² (not to scale); each dot = 1 person, rounded
Imagine one square kilometre. In Canada as a whole you'd meet about 4 people; in Ontario about 16; in PEI about 27. In a downtown core you'd meet thousands.

Factors that affect population size, distribution and density

Physical factors

  • Climate: milder winters and longer growing seasons in the south support farming and comfortable living.
  • Landforms and soils: the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence Lowlands have flat land and fertile soil; the rocky Canadian Shield has thin soils, and the Arctic has permafrost, which makes building and farming hard.
  • Water: rivers, lakes and coasts provide drinking water, transportation and trade routes.

Economic factors

  • Jobs in manufacturing, services, government and technology concentrate in cities.
  • Resources create towns where they are found: mining (Sudbury), forestry, oil sands (Fort McMurray).
  • Transportation links (ports, railways, highways, airports) attract businesses and people.

Historical factors

  • Indigenous peoples lived throughout what is now Canada for thousands of years, with trade routes and seasonal settlements tied to the land.
  • European settlement began along the St. Lawrence and the Atlantic coast, and the fur trade followed rivers.
  • The Canadian Pacific Railway, completed in 1885, opened the Prairies to settlement, and towns grew along its line.

Political factors

  • Government decisions: treaties and the reserve system under the Indian Act, the location of capital cities, immigration policy, and decisions to build (or not build) roads and services.
  • Zoning and planning rules shape density within cities.

Social factors

  • People move where they have family, friends and cultural communities, and where there are schools, hospitals and things to do.

Assessing importance (D1.4)

The expectation asks you to assess factors, not just list them. Ask:

  1. Which factor explains the most of the pattern?
  2. Is it a root cause or a result of another factor? (Jobs exist in Toronto partly because of its lake port and fertile hinterland.)
  3. Does the answer change by scale? For Canada as a whole, climate matters most; inside a city, zoning and transit matter most.

State a judgement and back it with evidence.

Worked example

Let's assess factors for the Quebec City–Windsor corridor

Why is the Quebec City–Windsor corridor the most densely populated part of Canada? Rank the three most important factors.

  1. List evidence: flat, fertile lowlands; the most moderate climate in eastern Canada; the St. Lawrence and Great Lakes waterway; the oldest European settlements; manufacturing and service jobs; close to large U.S. markets.
  2. Rank 1: Physical setting (lowlands, climate, waterway). It made early farming and trade possible, and almost everything else built on it.
  3. Rank 2: Historical settlement. Early colonial settlement and immigration created cities that kept growing.
  4. Rank 3: Economic factors. Jobs and markets now attract most newcomers, so the cluster keeps growing (cumulative growth).
  5. Judgement: physical factors started the pattern; economic factors keep it going.

Physical setting first, then history, then economics. Your ranking can differ if you support it with evidence.

Geospatial skill: map types for population (A1.4)

  • A choropleth map shades whole areas by density. It is easy to read but suggests people are spread evenly within each area.
  • A dot density map places dots where people actually live, showing clusters and empty areas.
  • A proportional symbol map uses circles sized by population, which is good for comparing cities.

Free tools such as Statistics Canada's census mapping tools and online GIS programs let you make these maps.

Hands-on activity

Map your province's population

You need: a printed or hand-drawn outline map of your province, coloured pencils, and the 2021 populations of 8 to 10 communities (from Statistics Canada's Census Profile, with an adult's help).

  1. Mark each community with a circle whose size matches its population (for example 1 cm across for 100,000 people, 2 cm for 400,000: area grows with population).
  2. Shade areas you think are farmland, forest, Canadian Shield or tundra using an atlas.
  3. Add major highways, rail lines and waterways.
  4. Write a paragraph: Describe the pattern. Which two factors best explain it? Use evidence from your map.

Look for: a title, legend, scale or "not to scale" note, north arrow, source line, and a clear judgement about the most important factors.

Just for fun

Nunavut's 2021 density rounds to 0.0 people per km². Don't worry: the 36,858 people who live there are very real. They just have a lot of elbow room.

Your turn

1

What was Canada's population density in 2021?

2

Describe the general pattern of population distribution in Canada.

3

Manitoba had 1,342,153 people on 540,310 km². Calculate its density.

4

Give one physical and one economic reason why few people live on the Canadian Shield.

5

What is a census metropolitan area?

6

Why can a density figure for a whole province be misleading?

More practice: warm-up

1

Write the formula for population density.

2

Which province was the most densely populated in 2021?

3

Name the corridor where the most Canadians live.

4

What is permafrost?

5

Name one map type that shows clusters of people well.

More practice: on your own

1

Explain how the CPR railway (completed 1885) affected population distribution in the Prairies.

2

Is climate or jobs more important in explaining why Canadians live in the south? Give your judgement.

3

Name a political factor that has shaped where First Nations people live, and explain.

4

Why is Fort McMurray a good example of an economic factor affecting population?

5

A choropleth map shows Ontario as one colour for density. What would a dot density map show that the choropleth hides?

Challenge

1

Explain how the factors behind population distribution change with scale: Canada as a whole vs. inside one city.

2

Climate change is lengthening the growing season in parts of northern Canada. Will this cause a large population shift north? Assess.

3

PEI is the most densely populated province but has no city of 100,000 people. How can that be?

Check your understanding

Quiz

1.

What was Canada's population density in 2021?

2.

Which area has the highest concentration of Canadians?

3.

Which is a physical factor affecting population distribution?

4.

A region has 600,000 people on 120,000 km². Its density is:

5.

Which map best shows where people actually cluster?

6.

About how many Canadians lived in census metropolitan areas in 2021?

For parents and teachers

Big idea: D1.4 asks students to describe settlement patterns and to assess the importance of factors affecting population size, distribution and density. Mapping practises A1.4.

Common difficulties:

  • Listing factors without judging them. Push for "most important because...".
  • Confusing density with total population. PEI is dense but small.
  • Rounding tiny densities to zero and thinking nobody lives there.

How to help: On a drive or transit trip, notice how housing changes from city centre to suburb to countryside, and ask why. Look at a night-time satellite image of Canada together (search "Canada at night NASA"): the lights show the distribution clearly.