Population Distribution and Density Canada’s pop-
ulation generally lies in a string along the U.S.-
Canadian border, with more than half of it concen-
trated in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence region, the
country’s core population center. In 1980, that re-
gion housed eleven of the country’s twenty-five larg-
est metropolitan areas; Canada’s highest urban and
rural densities overall were recorded in that core, par-
ticularly at the western end of Lake Ontario. The con-
centration of new immigrants in the country’s cities
and economic growth areas helped reinforce the pat-
tern of heavy density in the core; however, it also
helped fuel the westward drift of the population, es-
pecially into centers like Vancouver, Calgary, and Ed-
monton. Ethnic enclaves in Toronto and Vancouver
became cities within cities, with significant Chinese,
Greek, and Korean populations, among others.
This dynamic social geography was accompanied
by changes in land-use patterns, especially aerial
expansion of the suburbs. While immigrants added
to high population densities in urban cores like
Toronto, suburban growth led to the evolution of
polynucleated urban centers, in which metropolitan
areas developed outlying secondary urban centers.
National cities, such as Toronto and Vancouver, grew
mostly as a result of immigration to Canada from
abroad. Their growth was also significantly fueled,
however, by internal migration of Canadians into
the cities from outlying areas, also known as urban-
ization. Regional cities grew less dramatically.
The Canadian north remained sparsely popu-
lated in comparison to the country’s core: In 1981,
the Yukon had only twenty-three thousand residents,
and the Northwest Territories had only forty-six
thousand residents. The country’s Inuits lived mostly
north of the northern treeline, concentrated in the
Northwest Territories and along the coasts of Arctic
Quebec, while the Indian, or First Nations, peoples
resided south of the treeline, many on reserves.
Small increases in population across Canada’s north
in the 1980’s were associated mostly with resource
development and patterns of high indigenous fertil-
ity. The country’s overall population density was
only seven persons per square mile in 1991.
Impact Canada became a more diverse nation in
the 1980’s, at a time when it was already negotiating is-
sues of cultural diversity. Early in the decade, as
the Canadian constitution was being modified and
patriated, the government sought to adopt a multi-
cultural policy toward British, French, and First Na-
tions Canadians. Asian and other non-European im-
migration rendered this multicultural policy all the
more necessary and all the more difficult as the de-
cade progressed.Further Reading
Day, Richard J. F.Multiculturalism and the Histor y of Ca-
nadian Diversity.Toronto: University of Toronto
Press, 2000. Overview of multiculturalism as a phi-
losophy and as a national policy; discusses the
practical implications of multiculturalism for na-
tional cohesion.
Hawkins, Freda.Canada and Immigration.2ded.
Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1988.
History of immigration to Canada, with a sum-
mary of the surge of immigrants in the 1980’s.
Kalbach, W. E., and W. McVey.The Demographic Basis
of Canadian Society. 2d ed. Toronto: McGraw-Hill
Ryerson, 1979. Summary of the major compo-
nents of population growth and change, includ-
ing births, deaths, and migration.
Li, Peter S.The Making of Post-War Canada.Toronto:
Oxford University Press, 1996. Summarizes the
philosophies and policies that shaped the demo-
graphics of Canada, including immigration and
multicultural policies.
Ann M. Legreid
See also Canada Act of 1982; Demographics of
the United States; Immigration Reform and Control
Act of 1986; Immigration to Canada; Minorities in
Canada.Demographics of the United
States
Definition The size, composition, and
distribution of the population of the United
States
During the 1980’s, the population of the United States in-
creased in cultural diversity. Marriage rates declined,
meaning that a lower proportion of adults were members of
nuclear families than in the past. Progress was made in the
battle against several diseases, while others proved less trac-
table, and middle-class wage earners failed to benefit from
the decade’s growth in prosperity among those who were for-
tunate enough to join the ranks of the upper class or to gain
their income through investment.282 Demographics of the United States The Eighties in America