Canada and the United States are very similar in size, with the USA only about two percent smaller than Canada. Because of this, you might expect that the two countries have similar populations. In reality, you couldn’t be much further from the truth.
Learn all about the population of Canada vs the U.S., as well as some of the factors that influence these populations. Canada may not be as low in population as it seems on the surface.
Country Comparison: USA vs Canada
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Canada and the USA are very similar in size. Canada measures around 3.8 million square miles while the USA measures 3.7 million square miles. Canada is considered the second largest country in the world behind Russia which is almost twice the size of Canada. On the other hand, the USA ranks fourth behind China.
Due to their similar size, you might expect their population to be similar, with Canada having a slightly larger population, but that’s not the case. Canada has roughly 38.2 million people in the country as of 2023. Meanwhile, the United States has a whopping 332 million people.
That’s almost a difference of 300 million people. To put the difference in a better perspective, the entire country of Canada and the state of California have almost exactly the same population of 38.2 million people.
You can also compare the population of the two countries by population density. Canada has one of the lowest population densities, ranking 192 out of 195 countries with a population density of 10 people per square mile. The United States isn’t comparably all that much higher, ranking 148 on the list with a population density of 91 people per square mile.
All of this makes Canada sound like an open place to live. Instead of crowded cities, surely they have big open areas with lots of land, right? Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Though Canada is large, roughly 80 percent of the land is uninhabited due to extreme conditions. This means that the population of Canada is compressed into about 20 percent of the total land mass.
That means roughly 38.2 million people live in a land area that’s about 760,000 square miles. That puts the actual population density close to 50 people per square mile. This still sounds low and still puts it well below the population density of the U.S.
When it comes to cities, however, Canada still comes out on top for population density. Toronto, for example, now has the densest urban area in all of North America at a density of 10,750 people per square mile. While Los Angeles ranks second, Vancouver, Montreal, Winnipeg, and Calgary all beat out New York City.
What does all of this mean? Although Canada has one of the lowest population densities in the world, that doesn’t mean it’s rampant with space for every individual. There’s a lot more to see under the surface.
