The government has not kept records of this population. About 24,000 live in Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces, and a total of 14,000 in British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the Yukon. In 1921 the count was approximately 3,000,19 and by 1971 the population had reached just over 25,000.20 By 1991 the Inuit population was estimated at nearly 38,000. Most Inuit live in rural locations or small urban areas. It is well known that the Aboriginal population has been growing more rapidly than the Canadian population as a whole, mainly because of much higher fertility rates.
Mortality is also higher than in the general population.
However, a significant decline in the infant mortality rate in the 1960s, coupled with a fertility rate, particularly among registered Indians,21 that did not decline rapidly until the late 1960s, produced rapid growth in the Aboriginal population during the 1960s and early 70s. During the 1980s, both fertility and mortality rates continued their decline, and they are expected to maintain this decline throughout the 1991-2016 projection period. Net migration among Aboriginal people has been relatively minor and is not expected to affect the overall growth of the Aboriginal population. As a result of the rapid decline in infant mortality rates during the 1960s, a period when fertility rates remained high, a large generation of Aboriginal children was born and survived. This boom continued for several years after the general post-war baby boom and for different reasons.