Download Population Density of Canada

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Population Density of Canada
May 28, 2016 Canada is one of those countries where a vast land mass obscures the fact that
the country has a relatively small population. While Canada is the second largest country in the
world, its 35 million inhabitants make Canada only the 39th most populated country.
In this way, Canada is similar to countries like Egypt, Russia and Australia. Egypt is a country of
over 80 million people and its size is formidable on a map, yet most of its inhabitants are located
on a thin strip of land about the size of the state of Maryland on either bank of the Nile River. For
Russia, the world’s largest country by land mass, its population centers are located in the west,
close to Europe, while the vast and desolate Siberian region is sparsely populated and not
connected to Russian infrastructure. Australia – the world’s sixth largest country by land mass
and a continent in its own right – has even fewer people than Canada (around 23 million), all
living in cities along the coast. The interior of the country is unforgiving and inhospitable.
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This week’s map helps give a better sense of where people actually live in Canada. While
Canada’s borders extend northwards all the way to Greenland, the Arctic and Alaska, the
majority of the population lives in a fairly narrow band within 100 miles (160 kilometers) of the
U.S. border.
The most densely populated area is along this border in the east, extending from just east of
Detroit to the Maritime Provinces on the coast, and containing the major cities of Toronto,
Ottawa and Montreal. The second most densely populated region begins in Winnipeg and
extends to the base of the Canadian Rockies. In between these two regions, however, Canada is
sparsely populated.
The explanation for this pattern is rooted in Canada’s unique geography. Arguably, Canada’s
most crucial geographic feature is the Canadian Shield – an area formed mainly of volcanic rock
covered with a thin layer of soil. If you were to overlay a map of the Canadian Shield with this
week’s population density map, you would see that Canada’s major population centers do not
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extend into the Shield. Much of Ontario is covered by the Shield, which explains the gap
between the two main areas of dense population in the country.
One other critical element of Canada’s geopolitical reality is its relative isolation from the
Mississippi River system – the main circulatory system of the United States. Despite the fact that
Canada is the U.S.’s second largest trading partner, Canada has to rely on land-based transport
methods when shipping goods to the United States. The area of Canada that is most densely
populated is also not coincidentally located near Canada’s main maritime shipping lane, which
covers the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River leading into the Atlantic Ocean.
This map then tells us a great deal about how Canada behaves in the world. Canada must have
a close relationship with the United States because not only are the two neighbors, but the vast
majority of Canada’s population lives very close to the U.S. border. Canada may appear to be a
country of immense size on a map, but this is something of an illusion, because harsh weather
and the Canadian Shield make the development of large population centers in much of the
Canadian interior and north difficult, though not impossible.
Canada’s size cannot and should not be ignored, but size by itself tells us relatively little about
the country. This map helps us see that Canada is actually a long, thin country whose
relationship with the United States is of defining importance.
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