BCPB Home > Benchmarks > Rankings > Performance Indicator 8: Migration

Performance Indicator 8: Migration

Where BC Ranks, Provincial Comparison

Year

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

Rank

8

6

7

6

2

2

2

2

3

4

Performance Indicator Eight tracks the overall movement of Canadians from one province to another.

In the early 1990s, BC had an influx of interprovincial migrants, substantially larger than that of any other province. As of 1997/98, BC experienced a net outflow for six consecutive years. Since 2003/04, BC has enjoyed a consistent inflow once again.

Although BC is once again attracting people from other provinces, it has dropped in the ranking due to strength elsewhere. For example, Newfoundland and Labrador climbed from the lowest rank three years ago to fourth in 2007/08 and then second last year.

Why It's Important

Net inter-provincial migration can serve as an indicator of a jurisdiction's attractiveness as a place to invest and work. Migration is an important contributing factor to economic growth and in expanding the pool of young, highly skilled workers. Historically, there has been a correlation between interprovincial migration flows and the relative economic strengths and weaknesses of a given jurisdiction.

BC gained 59,200 migrants between 2003/04 and 2008/09, but lost 57,002 between 1997/98 and 2002/03. BC's maximum inter-provincial gains and losses have been 40,099 in 1992/93 and 14,610 people in 1999/00, respectively.

On average, for the ten-year period from 1999/00 to 2008/09, BC posted a small, positive interprovincial net migration rate of 0.6 percent. Alberta, the only other province with a non-negative change, had an average annual inflow of 7.5 people per 1,000 population over the same period.

Alberta gained 244,225 people from other provinces between 1999/00 and 2008/09, the largest increase of any province. BC, with 26,711, is the only other province that enjoyed a net inter-provincial inflow during this period. At the other end of the spectrum, 78,176 people left Quebec for other provinces over this period.

More information on net inflows and outflows is available in the Population Change in Canada Topic Box.

North American Comparison

British Columbia's net inter-provincial migration trended down from its 1992 peak of 1.2 percent of population to a trough of negative 0.4 percent in 1999. Losses decreased between 2000 and 2002 and BC has enjoyed a net positive immigration from other provinces consistently since 2003.

BC placed 26th among the 61 sub-national jurisdictions in 2008. Michigan and Rhode Island suffered the largest net inter-state outflows while the Carolinas, and Wyoming experienced the largest gains.

Notes
US state values from 1990 through 1999 are based on the 1990 Census; subsequent years are based on the 2000 Census. The 2000 values for the States are interpolated from the 1999 and 2001 values. Net domestic migration data (the US Census Bureau's inter-state migration indicator) are only available for one quarter in 2000, rather than the usual full year.







 


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