It also leads to subsequent travel needs for visiting friends and relatives. The total number of interprovincial migrants averages about 300,000 a year, or about one per cent of the total Canadian population. From 1989 to 1998, only Prince Edward Island, Alberta and British Columbia had a positive inflow of interprovincial migrants. Over the same period, Newfoundland and Saskatchewan had average net outflows of migrants that were, on average, over two per cent of each of these provinces' population. Ontario is the origin and destination of nearly half the interprovincial migrants in Canada.
Young adults are most likely to move as they enter the workforce.
The out-migration rate was 2.4 per cent for people aged 20 to 24 years and 1.9 per cent for those aged 25 to 34 years. Age Group Lower birth rates and longer life expectancies explain, in part, the ageing of the Canadian population. Figure 2-7 shows a general upward shift in the age distribution. The median age of Canadians rose from 28.2 in 1978 to 36.0 in 1998. Over the same period, the proportion of young people fell from 24 per cent to 19.8 per cent and the proportion of older people rose from nine per cent to 12.3 per cent.