🍁 Canada Population Growth vs. Housing & Healthcare Capacity

Canada’s recent population boom is not being matched by growth in essential infrastructure like housing or healthcare.

🏠 Housing Construction

🔹 Between 2022 and 2023, Canada’s population increased by 2 million, but only 500,000 housing starts were recorded and even fewer units were actually completed.

🔹 Over the past 50 years, new residential construction has plateaued at around 200,000 units per year, showing little flexibility to demand.

🔹 The past three years have seen record-breaking population growth, but housing construction hasn’t kept pace.

🩺 Family Doctors & Hospital Beds

🔹 During 2022–2023, the number of family doctors in Canada increased by just 815—a figure that falls far short of what’s needed to support population growth.

🔹 In 2022 alone, while the population surged by over 800,000, the number of hospital beds declined by 1,359.

🔹 Canada now lags most OECD countries in both family doctors and hospital beds per 100,000 people, with hospital bed reductions often attributed to a growing reliance on same-day surgical procedures that don't require overnight stays.

📉 Bottom Line: Canada's infrastructure both in housing and healthcare is failing to scale with its recent population growth. There is low elasticity in the system, with insufficient capacity being added in response to surging population.