Skip to content
Study Hall
← Unit 4: Changing Populations

CGC1W · Unit 4 test review

Changing Populations: Test Review

Everything for the Unit 4 test on one page: the key facts from all 6 lessons, the mistakes that cost the most marks, and a practice test that points you back to the lessons you need.

Key facts

Measuring Population: Rates, Growth and the Census

  • Population change = (births − deaths) + (immigrants − emigrants): natural increase plus net migration.
  • Birth and death rates are given per 1000 people per year; rate of natural increase = birth rate − death rate (divide by 10 to get a percentage).
  • Growth rate (%) = population change ÷ starting population × 100; population density = population ÷ land area (people per km²).
  • Canada passed 40 million people on June 16, 2023; it grew about 2.8% in 2023/2024 but only about 0.5% from July 2025 to July 2026, mostly because of fewer temporary residents (Statistics Canada).
  • Canada's fertility rate was 1.25 children per woman in 2024, a record low and well below the replacement level of about 2.1, so almost all of its growth comes from immigration.
  • Canada holds a census every five years; Statistics Canada updates population estimates every three months in between.

Population Pyramids, Aging and Dependency

  • A population pyramid shows the percentage of males and females in each age group; each bar is a cohort that moves up over time.
  • Expansive = wide base, high birth rate, fast growth; stationary = column, births and deaths balanced; constrictive = narrow base, low birth rate, aging.
  • Dependency ratio = (ages 0–14 + ages 65 and over) ÷ ages 15–64 × 100, in dependents per 100 working-age people.
  • Canada's baby boom (1946–1965) is now at the top of the pyramid; by July 1, 2026, 20.0% of Canadians were 65 or older and 15.0% were under 15 (Statistics Canada).
  • Age structures differ across Canada: Nunavut and the Indigenous population are much younger than average; Newfoundland and Labrador is the oldest province.

Immigration to Canada: Categories, Sources and Trends

  • Permanent immigrants come in three main categories: economic (about 58% in 2024), family (about 22%) and refugees and protected persons (about 16%), plus a small humanitarian group (IRCC).
  • Temporary residents (international students, temporary workers, asylum claimants) are non-permanent residents; many later become permanent residents.
  • In 2024 India was by far the largest source of new permanent residents, followed by the Philippines; most newcomers settle in Ontario, especially the Toronto area.
  • Push factors drive people away (war, persecution, poverty, disasters); pull factors attract them (jobs, safety, family, education); intervening obstacles stand between.
  • Canada admitted 483 640 permanent residents in 2024, then lowered its targets to 395 000 for 2025 and 380 000 a year for 2026–2028, and cut temporary resident arrivals.

Internal Migration and Settlement Patterns

  • Internal migration includes interprovincial, rural-to-urban, urban-to-suburban, return and seasonal moves; Alberta has had the largest net interprovincial gains in recent years and Ontario the largest losses (Statistics Canada, to mid-2025).
  • The ecumene is the permanently inhabited part of a country; in 2016 two-thirds (66%) of Canadians lived within 100 km of the US border, on about 4% of Canada's territory.
  • In 2021 nearly three in four Canadians lived in one of 41 census metropolitan areas, and 17.8% lived in rural areas.
  • The six CMAs over one million in 2021 were Toronto, Montréal, Vancouver, Ottawa–Gatineau, Calgary and Edmonton, home to nearly half of all Canadians.
  • Settlement is shaped by physical factors (climate, landforms, soil, water, resources) and human factors (transportation, history, jobs, services, government policy).

Quality of Life and Well-Being: Indicators and Data

  • Quality of life includes health, education, income, housing, safety, environment and community; it is broader than standard of living (material wealth).
  • The Human Development Index combines life expectancy, education (years of schooling) and income per person into one score from 0 to 1; Canada is in the very high group.
  • Life expectancy at birth in Canada was 81.7 years in 2023: 83.9 for females and 79.5 for males (Statistics Canada).
  • The Community Well-Being Index scores communities on education, labour force activity, income and housing; in 2016 First Nations communities averaged 58.4 vs 77.5 for non-Indigenous communities, a 19.1-point gap.
  • The well-being gap is rooted in history and policy (the reserve system, the Indian Act, residential schools, unequal funding of services), not in the communities themselves.

Population Issues for Canada and the World

  • Canada's main population issues are aging (health care, pensions, labour shortages), housing demand, and managing growth driven by immigration; a young, fast-growing Indigenous population brings both needs and opportunities.
  • Strategies include the Immigration Levels Plan, CPP and OAS changes, housing programs such as the Housing Accelerator Fund (2023), home care, and caps on temporary residents; each has trade-offs.
  • The world reached about 8 billion people on November 15, 2022, and is projected by the UN to peak at about 10.3 billion in the mid-2080s; most growth will be in sub-Saharan Africa.
  • The demographic transition model: death rates fall first, then birth rates, so growth is fastest in Stage 2; Nigeria is young and growing, Japan is old and shrinking, Canada is in Stage 4 and grows through immigration.
  • UNHCR counted 123.2 million forcibly displaced people at the end of 2024; Canada is a leading resettlement country and pioneered private refugee sponsorship.

Where marks get lost

  • Mixing up natural increase and population growth. Natural increase is only births minus deaths; total growth also includes net migration, which is the bigger part in Canada. (Measuring Population: Rates, Growth and the Census)
  • Forgetting the units of a rate. A birth rate of 10 means 10 per 1000 people, which is 1 percent, not 10 percent. (Measuring Population: Rates, Growth and the Census)
  • Subtracting in the wrong order. Natural increase is births minus deaths, so more deaths than births gives a negative number (a natural decrease), not a positive one. (Measuring Population: Rates, Growth and the Census)
  • Treating population density as how crowded everywhere is. Density is an average; a low national density hides very crowded cities and huge empty areas. (Measuring Population: Rates, Growth and the Census)
  • Quoting a population figure without a year and a source. Canada's population changes every quarter and estimates are revised, so always say "about 41.8 million on July 1, 2026 (Statistics Canada)", not just "41.8 million". (Measuring Population: Rates, Growth and the Census)
  • Reading the pyramid upside down or mixing up the axes. Age goes up the vertical axis; the bar length is the share of the population in each age group. (Population Pyramids, Aging and Dependency)
  • Calling any pyramid with a narrow top "expansive". Look at the base: a wide base that narrows steadily is expansive; a base narrower than the middle is constrictive. (Population Pyramids, Aging and Dependency)
  • Writing the dependency ratio as a percentage of the whole population. It is dependents per 100 people aged 15–64, so you divide by the working-age group, not by the total. (Population Pyramids, Aging and Dependency)
  • Assuming every senior is dependent and every 15- to 64-year-old works. The dependency ratio is an age-based estimate, not a count of who actually earns an income. (Population Pyramids, Aging and Dependency)
  • Treating Canada's age structure as the same everywhere. Nunavut and the Indigenous population are young; Newfoundland and Labrador and many rural towns are much older than the national average. (Population Pyramids, Aging and Dependency)
  • Calling international students and temporary workers immigrants. They are temporary (non-permanent) residents until they become permanent residents. (Immigration to Canada: Categories, Sources and Trends)
  • Thinking most immigrants are refugees. In 2024 about 58 percent were economic immigrants and about 16 percent were refugees and protected persons. (Immigration to Canada: Categories, Sources and Trends)
  • Mixing up refugees and other migrants. A refugee is forced to flee persecution, war or violence; an economic immigrant chooses to move for work. (Immigration to Canada: Categories, Sources and Trends)
  • Listing only pull factors (or only push factors) when explaining a move. Strong answers name both, plus the intervening obstacles. (Immigration to Canada: Categories, Sources and Trends)
  • Assuming immigration levels never change. Targets are reset each year in the Immigration Levels Plan; they rose to record highs in 2024 and then were cut. (Immigration to Canada: Categories, Sources and Trends)
  • Saying Canadians are spread evenly across the country. The national density of about 4 people per km² hides the fact that most people live in a narrow southern band and in cities. (Internal Migration and Settlement Patterns)
  • Thinking only immigration changes a province's population. Interprovincial migration can add or remove tens of thousands of people a year, as in Alberta and Ontario. (Internal Migration and Settlement Patterns)
  • Explaining settlement with physical factors only. History, transportation, jobs, services and government policy (including the reserve system) shape where people live too. (Internal Migration and Settlement Patterns)
  • Mixing up a city and a census metropolitan area. The City of Toronto had about 2.8 million people in 2021, but the Toronto CMA, which includes surrounding municipalities, had about 6.2 million. (Internal Migration and Settlement Patterns)
  • Treating all Indigenous people as living on reserves or in the North. Over 40 percent of Indigenous people lived in large urban centres in 2021. (Internal Migration and Settlement Patterns)
  • Using income alone as a measure of quality of life. Two places with the same average income can differ hugely in health, education, housing and safety. (Quality of Life and Well-Being: Indicators and Data)
  • Treating a national ranking as true for every community. Averages hide large gaps between regions and groups in Canada. (Quality of Life and Well-Being: Indicators and Data)
  • Explaining gaps in well-being by blaming the people affected. Strong answers trace the causes to history, policy, location and funding. (Quality of Life and Well-Being: Indicators and Data)
  • Comparing figures from different years or sources without saying so. Always label data with year and source. (Quality of Life and Well-Being: Indicators and Data)
  • Assuming that because two indicators rise together, one must cause the other. Look for an explanation and other possible causes. (Quality of Life and Well-Being: Indicators and Data)
  • Saying the world's population will keep growing forever. The UN projects a peak of about 10.3 billion in the mid-2080s, followed by a slow decline. (Population Issues for Canada and the World)
  • Describing a strategy without its trade-offs. Every policy (immigration levels, pensions, housing) has costs and benefits for different groups; strong answers name both. (Population Issues for Canada and the World)
  • Treating aging as only a problem. It also creates opportunities: job openings, new industries in health and home care, and experienced volunteers. (Population Issues for Canada and the World)
  • Thinking most refugees come to wealthy countries. Most displaced people stay in their own country or in a neighbouring one; few are resettled. (Population Issues for Canada and the World)
  • Placing a country in the demographic transition model by wealth alone. Use the evidence: birth and death rates, natural increase and the shape of its pyramid. (Population Issues for Canada and the World)

Practice test

24 questions from across the unit. Each one shows the lesson it comes from.

  1. Measuring Population: Rates, Growth and the Census
    1
    A country has a birth rate of 18.5 per 1000 and a death rate of 7.0 per 1000. What is its rate of natural increase, per 1000 people? Give your answer to one decimal place.
    per 1000
  2. Measuring Population: Rates, Growth and the Census
    2
    Match each term to its meaning.
    Natural increase
    Net migration
    Population density
    Total fertility rate
  3. Measuring Population: Rates, Growth and the Census
    3
    What is the name of the official count of every person in a country, held in Canada every five years?
  4. Measuring Population: Rates, Growth and the Census
    4
    Why do geographers use rates per 1000 instead of the raw number of births?
  5. Population Pyramids, Aging and Dependency
    5
    A country has 42% of its people aged 0–14 and 3% aged 65 and over. Calculate its total dependency ratio (dependents per 100 people aged 15–64), to one decimal place.
  6. Population Pyramids, Aging and Dependency
    6
    Match each pyramid feature to its most likely cause.
    A very wide base
    A large bulge in people born 1946–1965
    Wider female bars at ages 80 and over
    Extra-wide bars for ages 20–39 in a city
  7. Population Pyramids, Aging and Dependency
    7
    Put these Canadian generations in order from oldest to youngest.
    1. 1Baby bust generation, often called Generation X (born late 1960s and 1970s)
    2. 2Generation Z (born late 1990s to about 2010)
    3. 3Echo boom, the children of the baby boomers (born mostly in the 1980s and early 1990s)
    4. 4Baby boomers (born about 1946–1965)
  8. Population Pyramids, Aging and Dependency
    8
    Why does immigration tend to widen the 20–44 age groups of Canada's pyramid?
  9. Immigration to Canada: Categories, Sources and Trends
    9
    Match each newcomer to the category that fits.
    A welder from Ireland chosen by Saskatchewan to fill a local job
    Grandparents from Jamaica sponsored by their son in Toronto
    An Eritrean family fleeing persecution, resettled from a camp abroad
    A student from Nigeria on a study permit at a university in Halifax
  10. Immigration to Canada: Categories, Sources and Trends
    10
    The 2026–2028 levels plan targets 49 300 refugees and protected persons out of 380 000 permanent residents each year. What percentage of the total is that? Give your answer to one decimal place.
    %
  11. Immigration to Canada: Categories, Sources and Trends
    11
    What term describes a barrier between the place people leave and the place they want to go, such as distance, cost or immigration rules?
  12. Immigration to Canada: Categories, Sources and Trends
    12
    What was the main reason Canada's population growth slowed after the federal government changed immigration policy in 2024?
  13. Internal Migration and Settlement Patterns
    13
    What term do geographers use for the permanently inhabited part of a country?
  14. Internal Migration and Settlement Patterns
    14
    In the 2021 census, the six CMAs with over a million people had a combined population of about 17.5 million, out of Canada's 37.0 million. What percentage of Canadians lived in these six CMAs? Give your answer to the nearest whole percent.
    %
  15. Internal Migration and Settlement Patterns
    15
    Which factor best explains why Prairie towns are often spaced at regular intervals in a line?
  16. Internal Migration and Settlement Patterns
    16
    Which pair of factors best explains why the Windsor–Quebec City corridor is Canada's most densely populated region?
  17. Quality of Life and Well-Being: Indicators and Data
    17
    Which three dimensions does the Human Development Index combine?
  18. Quality of Life and Well-Being: Indicators and Data
    18
    Match each indicator to what it mainly measures.
    Infant mortality rate
    GDP per capita
    Expected years of schooling
    Share of homes needing major repairs
  19. Quality of Life and Well-Being: Indicators and Data
    19
    In 2016 the average CWB score was 58.4 for First Nations communities and 77.5 for non-Indigenous communities. What was the gap, in points? Give your answer to one decimal place.
    points
  20. Quality of Life and Well-Being: Indicators and Data
    20
    Put the steps of analyzing a quality-of-life data set in a sensible order.
    1. 1Draw a conclusion and note what the data leave out
    2. 2Explain the patterns using interrelated factors and their causes
    3. 3Describe the patterns and trends you see
    4. 4Identify the source, the year and how the data were collected
    5. 5Calculate comparable values, such as rates per person or gaps between groups
  21. Population Issues for Canada and the World
    21
    Put the stages of the demographic transition model in order.
    1. 1Death rates fall while birth rates stay high; the population grows rapidly
    2. 2Birth and death rates are both low; the population is large and stable
    3. 3Birth rates fall too; growth slows
    4. 4Birth and death rates are both high; the population grows slowly
  22. Population Issues for Canada and the World
    22
    Match each population issue in Canada to a strategy designed to address it.
    Not enough homes for a growing population
    Retirees needing secure incomes
    Labour shortages in skilled jobs
    Seniors who want to stay in their own homes
  23. Population Issues for Canada and the World
    23
    Where do most of the world's forcibly displaced people live?
  24. Population Issues for Canada and the World
    24
    What is distinctive about Canada's private sponsorship of refugees?

Endless drill

Fresh numbers every time, for the calculation questions in this unit.

Endless drillnew numbers every time

Generating a problem…

Keep going