N.B. sees highest population growth rate in 50 years: report

People are pictured on a patio in downtown Moncton, N.B., at lunchtime on June 18, 2024. (Source: Derek Haggett/CTV News Atlantic)

New Brunswick saw the highest population growth rate in more than 50 years in 2023, according to a new report.

The 2023 Economy in Review report says the province’s population hit 834,691 on July 1, 2023, which represented a 3.1 per cent from 2022 and the highest growth rate in the comparable data since 1972.

The report further notes the population growth of 64,194 in the past five years is equivalent to the growth observed between 1980 and 2018. Moncton was the fastest growing census metropolitan area in Canada for the second year in a row while Fredericton was the ninth.

The report says the province’s economy grew by 1.3 per cent in 2023 and employment rose by 3.5 per cent, which was the highest such growth rate since 2002.

“The unemployment rate decreased to 6.6 per cent, which is the lowest rate ever recorded for New Brunswick since Statistics Canada started gathering comparable data in 1976,” the report says.

The overall vacancy rate for private apartments fell from 1.9 per cent in 2022 to 1.5 per cent in 2023 while the province also recorded 4,547 housing starts, the second-highest level since 1983.

Investment in building construction reached $3.8 billion, representing a 9.3 per cent increase and the largest growth among the provinces.

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