This Is Where We Go From Here

By 2020, the U.S. population will grow by 20 million, more than doubling its current population of 2.1 billion, according to the U of T Population Institute.

By 2050, the country will grow to 1.5 billion, a rate of population growth of over 4 per cent a year.

The U of S Population Institute says the rapid population growth will have a negative impact on quality of life and on Canada’s economic health.

“The U. of T’s projections suggest that we will see population growth in the near term that is at least twice as large as the current rate of growth and that we may see an even faster increase in growth rates that is as large,” said the institute’s director of research, Richard Wiblin.

“The population growth is going to accelerate, the cost of living is going in the wrong direction, and we are going to see some very serious economic consequences.”

The UofT population projections come on the heels of a report by the Institute for Policy Studies that predicted Canada would become a majority-minority country by 2050.

“Canada is already in the midst of a population boom, with its rapidly growing population and growing share of the global labour force,” said co-author Michael Tullos.

“By 2050, Canada will have an increase of 2 per cent per year in the size of its population, and by 2050, we will have the world’s largest population in 2045.”

The report was released Wednesday.

The report says the population is set to grow by an average of 2,800 people every year.

“As the world becomes increasingly multicultural, we are seeing rapid growth in countries where people from a variety of ethnicities are living side-by-side and working together in a shared space,” said Tulloss.

The report suggests that by 2050 the average Canadian household will have 13 people, up from 5.7 today.

By 2040, that number will rise to 25,700, and the number of Canadians living in the country is set for a 50 per cent increase.

The institute says there is a real opportunity to make Canada a more inclusive place for people of different ethnicities, which could result in increased employment and income opportunities for Canadian citizens.

The Institute for Economic Affairs, a left-leaning think-tank, said the country needs to be more proactive in the future to combat the problem of “demographic transition” and help communities adapt to change.

“We need to be aware of how rapidly we’re increasing the number and share of people in Canada,” said Dr. Michael Wintrich.

“In some ways we’re already there, we just need to slow the pace of growth a little bit.”

With files from CBC News