The new population growth projections prepared by Alberta Treasury Board and Finance show that Alberta will grow by over 2.3 million people between now and 2051 based on the medium-growth scenario. That works out to a population that is 48% larger than today and totaling almost 7.3 million people.

The Alberta-wide number is great, but will the growth be evenly distributed or concentrated in some parts of the province?

Thankfully, the projections include a breakdown for each of Alberta’s eight economic regions.* In addition, the projections now include numerous other breakdowns including, for example, local areas, peer groups, health zones, and land use framework regions.

Sure enough, while all eight economic regions are projected to be larger by 2051, some parts of the province will grow more than others.

In absolute terms, 87% of the new residents will be added to the Calgary (+1,064,10) and Edmonton (+962,015) economic regions. If you throw in Red Deer (+94,030) to make it the Calgary-Edmonton Corridor, it rises to 91% of the projected growth.

In percentage terms, Edmonton just edges out Calgary as the region that will grow the most by 2051, at +57% versus +56%.

At the other end of the growth spectrum is the Camrose-Drumheller region at +12% and the Banff-Jasper-Rocky Mountain House region at just +2%.

These are, of course, projections and things could play out differently. However, the ongoing trends informing the projections are clear and tend to be durable so it is reasonable to expect that the majority of Alberta’s population growth will be concentrated in the Calgary-Edmonton Corridor.

*An economic region is a grouping of census divisions as defined by Statistics Canada in their Standard Geographical Classification. Each province is divided into several economic regions and each economic region is further subdivided into census divisions, which are themselves divided into census subdivisions (i.e., municipalities).

Answer to the previous trivia question: The world's highest residential apartment (1,416 feet) is in the Central Park Tower in New York.

Today’s trivia question: What is the population of the Pitcairn Islands?