The term largest province in Canada can refer to either the most populous province, or the largest province by territory.
[snippet]Largest Province in Canada
Quebec is the largest province in Canada by area – it covers 1,365,128 square kilometres.
Ontario is the most populated province in Canada, with a population of 13,448,494 people (2016 census).
[/snippet]The table below includes each territory or province in Canada, alongside its population, area, and its proportion of the total Canadian population.
| Province / Territory | Capital | Population | Proportion |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ontario | Toronto | 13448494 | 38.26% |
| Quebec | Quebec City | 8164361 | 23.23% |
| British Columbia | Victoria | 4648055 | 13.22% |
| Alberta | Edmonton | 4067175 | 11.57% |
| Manitoba | Winnipeg | 1278365 | 3.64% |
| Saskatchewan | Regina | 1098352 | 3.12% |
| Nova Scotia | Halifax | 923598 | 2.63% |
| New Brunswick | Fredericton | 747101 | 2.13% |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | St John's | 519716 | 1.48% |
| Prince Edward Island | Charlottetown | 142907 | 0.41% |
| Northwest Territories | Yellowknife | 41786 | 0.12% |
| Nunavut | Iqaluit | 35944 | 0.01% |
| Yukon | Whitehorse | 35874 | 0.01% |
Most populous Province/Territory
The most populous province in Canada is Ontario. In 2016, the population of Ontario was 13,448,494 people – that’s almost four in every ten people who live in Canada. Toronto is the largest city in Ontario and Canada as a whole. Ontario is followed by Quebec, with a population of 8,164361.
British Columbia just about hangs on to third place, with 4,648,055, but it is likely to be overtaken by Alberta, currently in fourth place with a population of 4,067,175. This is because Alberta’s population growth rate of 11.6% every five years is more than twice as fast as in British Columbia (5.6%).
The most populous territory in Canada is the Northwest Territories, with a 2016 population of 41,462 people (0.1% of Canada’s population).
The least populous province in Canada is Prince Edward Island, with a 2016 population of 142,907.
The least populous territory in Canada is Yukon, home to 35,874 people.
Biggest Province/Territory
The largest province in Canada by area is Quebec, with a total area of 1,365,128 sq km. In total, Quebec covers 15% of the total land area of Canada. Quebec is almost 50% larger than the next largest province, Ontario, which has a total land area of 917,741 sq km.
Neither province comes close to the size of Canada’s largest territory however. Nunavut, in the north of Canada has a total area of 1,936,113 sq km and makes up 21% of Canada’s total area. This makes Nunavut the fifth largest territory or state in the world, after Sakha Republic (Russia, 3,103,200 km2), Western Australia (Australia, 2,615,602 km2), Krasnoyarsk (Russia, 3,339,700) and Greenland (Denmark, 2,166,086).
The table above lists the population of each province and territory in Canada in 2015, its size and its population density.
Source: Statistics Canada.
