Quebec experienced more annual population growth in 2022 than it has in 50 years, thanks to immigration. But this relative growth was the lowest of all Canadian provinces, says the Institut de la statistique du Québec (ISQ).

Quebec's 2022 demographic report, released Wednesday, shows that as of Jan. 1, Quebec's population was estimated at 8.8 million people, up by 149,900 people over the course of 2022. According to the Quebec's s (ISQ), this resumption of population growth, after the major slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, is based on a marked increase in permanent and temporary immigration.

While immigration has increased, births have decreased and deaths have experienced "a notable increase" in Quebec in 2022. Therefore, the "natural increase" drops "to a particularly low level," notes the ISQ.

In the end, Quebec's growth rate is 1.7 per cent, compared to 3.0 per cent in the rest of Canada. So Quebec's demographic weight in the country as a whole decreased again slightly, from 22.4 per cent to 22.2 per cent, the ISQ pointed out.

In terms of immigration, Quebec welcomed 68,700 permanent immigrants in 2022, "a peak partly fuelled by a catch-up after the drop in admissions caused by the pandemic," the institute says. Non-permanent residents once again became the main source of migration growth in 2022, as they had been in 2019, according to the ISQ.

The strong pre-pandemic growth of non-permanent residents (temporary workers, foreign students and asylum seekers) was curbed in 2020 and 2021 by COVID-19, but their estimated number increased by 86,700 in 2022, "a record balance" that brings their total number to about 346,000 people.

Quebec is the place of residence for 57 per cent of asylum seekers in Canada, but for 16 per cent of temporary workers and only 12 per cent of foreign students. On the other hand, the share of permanent and temporary immigrants who reside outside the Montreal metropolitan area is on the increase.

The number of births has decreased by 5 per cent compared to 2021, and according to the ISQ, you have to go back to 2005 to find a lower number. The fertility rate is now at 1.49 children per woman, falling below 1.5 children for the first time in 20 years. The average age at childbirth continues to rise in Quebec, to 31.1 years.

In contrast, the number of deaths increased by 12 per cent in 2022, an "exceptional increase" that can be associated with various factors, including the pandemic and the resumption of the circulation of other respiratory viruses.

This increase takes nine months off life expectancy in Quebec, which had returned to its pre-pandemic level in 2021, after a difficult year of COVID-19. Life expectancy is now back to 2020 levels, at 84.1 years for women and 80.5 years for men.

This report was first published by The Canadian Press in French on May 24, 2023.