THUNDER BAY – The city’s population is growing, but not very quickly.
The census metropolitan area grew by 851 between 2017 and July 1 2018 estimates, based on census information provided to Statistics Canada.
The government organization estimates Thunder Bay’s CMA population hit 126,481 by last July, up from 125,630 the year prior.
That’s a 0.6 per cent increase, well below the combined total of all of Canada’s census metropolitan areas.
But the city doesn’t appear to be repopulating itself on its own.
According to a table that breaks down population growth and decline by census metropolitan area, it estimates there were 1,170 births in Thunder Bay in 2017 and 2018, countered by 1,364 deaths.
The largest growth category, at 249, was immigrants.
Fifty-nine more people left Thunder Bay from other provinces than moved into the CMA, while 109 more people moved to the city from inside Ontario than left for other parts of the province.
As for the region, Northwestern Ontario’s population was expected to hit 242,061 by July 1 2018, up from 241,166 the year before, an increase of 895.