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Part of Office of Statistics and Information

Current provincial population estimates

See population estimates and statistics, components of change, demographic spotlight reports and a list of demographic terms.

Highlights

A population estimate is a measure of the current or historical population at a particular point in time. These are the key highlights for the second quarter of 2024:

  • As of July 1, 2024, Alberta’s population was estimated to be 4,888,723, an addition of 46,200 people between April 1 and June 30, 2024.
  • Alberta’s population growth rate remains elevated at 1.0% in the second quarter of 2024. This was the highest growth among all provinces and territories.
  • International net migration was the biggest driver of Alberta’s growth in the second quarter, contributing 0.7%, followed by net interprovincial migration at 0.2% and natural increase with 0.1%.
  • Between July 1, 2023 and July 1, 2024, the province’s population expanded by 204,209 people, which translates to annual growth of 4.4%.
    • This represents a significant increase from the previous year (3.9% between 2022 and 2023) and the highest July 1 year-over-year growth rate since 1981.

For more information and analysis, see the Second Quarter Population Report.

Detailed population tables

Population change components

Population change is a result of the relationship between births, deaths and migration.

Definitions

  • Natural increase – The difference between the number of births and deaths.
  • Migration (net) – The difference between movements into a region and those out of a region.
  • International migration (net) – This includes immigrants, emigrants, non-permanent residents (net), temporarily abroad (net) and returning migrants:
    • Immigrants – permanent residents moving to Canada from other countries and landing in Alberta.
    • Emigrants – people permanently leaving Canada
    • Non-permanent residents (net) – in and out movements of foreign students, workers and refugee claimants, and the families of each of these categories
    • Temporarily abroad (net) – movements of people who do not have a residence in Canada, but intend to return
    • Returning migrants – former emigrants who have returned to Canada to live
  • Interprovincial migration (net) – The movement between the provinces and territories of Canada, which equals 0 at the national level.
  • Intraprovincial migration (net) – The movement within the province of Alberta, which equals 0 at the provincial level.

Archived publications

These detail Alberta population estimates between 2002 and 2019 on a quarterly basis.

  1. 2002 First Quarter to 2009 First Quarter
  2. 2009 Second Quarter to 2019 Second Quarter

Archived annual report: 2021-22 Annual Population Report (January 19, 2022)

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Contact

General OSI enquiries

Hours: 8:15 am to 4:30 pm (open Monday to Friday, closed statutory holidays)
Phone: 780-427-2071
Toll free: 310-0000 before the phone number (in Alberta)
Fax: 780-426-3951
Email: [email protected]

Media enquiries

Contact the Treasury Board and Finance Spokesperson.