New census data from Statistics Canada shows the City of Kamloops was the third fastest-growing census metropolitan area in Canada.

It says the population of the Kamloops metropolitan area – which includes the City of Kamloops, Sun Peaks, Logan Lake, and Chase – increased by 10 per cent from 103,811 people in 2016 to 114,142 people in 2021.

In fact, B.C. had four of the five fastest growing census metropolitan areas in Canada in terms of population.

The Kelowna-area grew at the fastest rate among all of Canada’s big cities between 2016 and 2021 from a population of 194,892 to 222,162 – an increase of 14 per cent.

The Chilliwack census metropolitan area had the second highest increase at 12.1 per cent, with the population going from 101,512 people in 2016 to 114,142 people in 2021.

The Nanaimo metropolitan census area – including Nanaimo and surrounding communities such as Parksville and Qualicum Beach – was fifth with a 10 per cent increase  as well to 115,459 people in 2021, up from 104,936 in 2016.

London, Ontario in fourth place was the only non-B.C. city in the top five. It too had an increase of 10 per cent as well, from 494,069 people in 2016 to 543,551 in 2021.

The national population reached almost 37 million people in 2021, an increase of 5.2 per cent over the 2016 figure.

Toronto remains the most populous municipality, with almost 2.8 million residents, while Vancouver is the most populous B.C. city, with just over 662,000 people.