Statscan has just released some new data about population growth in Canada, including which regions are expanding the fastest.

Unsurprisingly, city centres grew at an exponentially more rapid pace than more rural parts of the country did, with populations up 1.7 per cent from last year (as opposed to 0.6 per cent for non-metropolitan areas) thanks to both external and internal immigration.

Also quite predictable, the places that have seen the largest growth recently have been located in southern Ontario, near the GTA.

Graphic by Statistics Canada

The Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo region has been the fastest-growing in Canada according to 2018-2019 data, up by 2.8 per cent in a year.

London, Ontario was next, with a growth rate of 2.3 per cent year-over-year. It was tied with the Ontario side of National Capital Region Ottawa-Gatineau and followed by Halifax, Nova Scotia and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (both 2.2 per cent); Edmonton, Lethbridge and Calgary, Alberta (all 1.1 per cent); and Abbotsford-Mission, B.C., Toronto and Moncton (all of which saw an annual growth 2.0 per cent).

Rounding out the top 15 were Oshawa, Ontario (1.9 per cent); Regina, Saskatchewan and ski destination Kelowna, B.C. (1.9 per cent); and Ontario's southernmost city, Windsor (1.7 per cent).

It is important to keep in mind that, obviously, a growth rate of 2 per cent in a city like Toronto represents a much greater number of people than a higher growth rate in a smaller locale. But, it is still interesting to see some unexpected places make the cut for the fastest-growing areas in the country.