The number of people in Canada rose by just 308,100 in the year ending July 1, Statistics Canada said Tuesday, marking the country’s smallest annual population increase since 1999.

Data show Canada received fewer immigrants than the year previous, and seniors aged 65 and over now outnumber youth aged 14 and under for the first time.

The country’s estimated population stands at 35,851,800, an increase of 0.9% over the last year. By comparison, Canada’s population grew by 1.1% in 2014.

The drop is largely a result of less international migration, which pushed the population up by 0.5%.

Approximately 239,800 immigrants entered the country over the 12-month period, down from 267,900 the previous year.

Over the same period, the number of non-permanent residents decreased by 10,300, the largest fall since 1995.

International migration remains the main source of population growth, responsible for 60.8% of new people in Canada.

Canada’s population grew by 0.2% more than that of the United States, 0.7% more than the United Kingdom, 0.7% more than France and 0.8% more than Germany.

Chris Day, a spokesperson for Immigration Minister Chris Alexander, said the government was "on track to reach our planned immigration target of 280,000 admissions for 2015", referring to the calendar year, as opposed to the timeframe of the Statistics Canada data.

Baby boomers

The first members of the baby boom generation, defined as those born between 1946 and 1965, turned 65 in 2011. Since then, that age group has grown steeply.

For the first time, the number of people older than 65 is higher than the number aged 0-14 in Canada.

The 65-and-older age bracket rose by almost four times the rate of the total population. Seniors now account for 16.1% of the population, up 0.4% on the year previously.

However, only 18.2% of baby boomers are currently over 65, indicating the number of seniors will continue to rise at a significant rate over the next 15 years.

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Geographical spread

Ontario remains Canada's most populous province, with 13,792,100 people, or 38.5% of the population.

Nearly 31 million people, or 86.3% of the population, currently reside in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia or Alberta.

The rate of population growth fell by the largest amount in Alberta, dropping to 1.8%. That was still twice the national average.