Canada's population has officially hit a new milestone.

According to Statistics Canada, the country's population surpassed 41,000,000 in the first quarter of the year, a 0.6 per cent increase.

As of April 1, Canada's population reached 41,012,563, growing by 242,673 people in the first three months of 2024, noted Statistics Canada.

This new population record was achieved less than one year after Canada reached the 40 million mark on June 16, 2023.

The agency noted that this first quarter growth rate (+0.6 per cent) is the same as the first and fourth quarters of 2023.

StatCan said international migration was a driving factor in "almost all" (99.3 per cent) of Canada's population growth in Q1 of 2024.

Permanent immigration in this quarter was consistent with the Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) target for immigrants, which aims to welcome 485,000 new permanent residents in 2024 and plateau at 500,000 for 2025 and 2026.

The data says Canada welcomed 121,758 permanent immigrants from January to March.

Nova Scotia (+3,999), New Brunswick (+3,999) and Prince Edward Island (+1,330) saw the highest immigrant growth in the first quarter of 2024 since any comparable statistics data became available in the third quarter of 1971.

Statistics Canada says this increase in the Maritimes reflects that region's growing demand for skilled workers.

The agency says temporary immigration remains high, as Canada added 131,810 non-permanent residents (NPRs) to its population in the first quarter of this year.

However, this growth shows signs of slowing as the net increase during this period was significantly lower than record highs of the second (+233,361) and third (+312,758) quarters of 2023.

In March, the federal government announced it would set targets for new temporary residents arriving in Canada.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller highlighted that Canada's temporary resident volume has "increased significantly," reaching 2.5 million or 6.2 per cent of the population in 2023.

Miller said the federal government plans to decrease the temporary resident population by 5 per cent over the next three years.

Earlier this year, we reported that Statistics Canada's population clock had reached 41,000,180 on March 27.

Statistics Canada's population clock tracks the "real-time changes to the size of the Canadian population and the provinces and territories." The tracker measures the changes by considering the rate of births, deaths, immigrants, emigrants, non-permanent residents, and inter-provincial migrants.

However, Statistics Canada also releases official reports tracking Canada's population growth per quarter.

If you want to watch Canada's real-time population changes, check out the Statistics Canada tool here. As of April 19, 2024, the tracker reports that Canada's population has reached 41,326,050.

With files from Irish Mae Silvestre.