human development UNDP United Nations – David South Consulting

According to Statistics Canada, the country’s population reached 40 million people as of 16 June 2023.

“The country’s population is currently growing at a record-setting pace. In 2022, the number of Canadians rose by 1,050,110 people.”

https://www.statcan.gc.ca/en/subjects-start/population_and_demography/40-million?utm_source=twt&utm_medium=smo&utm_campaign=statcan-statcan-40million-2023

When the country topped the United Nations’ Human Development Index (HDI) ranking in 1997, the country’s population was 30 million.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/5-things/flashback-friday-canada-named-best-place-to-live-on-this-day-in-1997-1.2415521#:~:text=June%2012%2C%201997%3A%20A%20UN,in%20the%20world%20in%201997.

When I first emerged as a Canadian (I was born in 1966), the country’s population was 20 million. So the population has doubled in my lifetime.

Since Canada topped the HDI rankings in the late 1990s, however, the population has grown, house prices have surged and GDP (Gross Domestic Product) has exploded, yet the country has also slipped down the rankings, hitting 15th place in 2021. Does this mean there are more people, but fewer living as well as they did in the 1990s?