Article content

Quebec’s population growth slowed in 2015 as more Quebecers died, fewer babies were born and fewer immigrants settled in the province.

But Quebec is expecting to reverse the trend in 2016 thanks in part to the arrival of Syrian refugees.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Quebec's population growth slowed in 2015 as births, immigration drop Back to video

As of Jan 1, 2016, Quebec’s population was 8,287,843, an increase of 50,010 people compared to the previous year, the Institut de la statistique du Québec said in a report published Wednesday.

That means the growth rate was 6.1 per 1,000 population, the lowest increase in 10 years.

The annual report — Le bilan démographique du Québec — provides a portrait of the province’s population:

• Quebec’s growth rate — 6.1 per 1,000 — is lower than the Canadian average (9.4) and that of every province but New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. Alberta (16.7) and Ontari0 (10.1) grew the most.

• Quebec’s proportion of Canada’s population continues to drop. As of July 1, it was 22.9 per cent; that’s five percentage points lower than it was in 1971. The proportion of Canadians living in Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario grew during this period.

Births

• 86,800 babies were born in Quebec in 2015, one-per-cent fewer than the previous year. That’s the lowest number of births since 2007.

• The fertility rate was 1.6 children per woman in Quebec, compared with 1.62 the previous year. It’s the sixth consecutive drop.

• For 30 per cent of Quebec newborns, at least one parent was born outside Canada.

• Emma was the most popular name for girls, replacing Léa. Among boys, the top name was Thomas, replacing William.