18 Jun Ottawa has reached one million residents!

Welcome to Ottawa

Ottawa is celebrating a major milestone!  Mayor Jim Watson unveiled a new “Welcome to Ottawa” sign on June 14 showing that our city has officially surpassed the one million population mark.

This milestone puts Ottawa in a different league of big North American cities. Ottawa is the fourth Canadian city to reach a population of one million, after Toronto, Montreal and Calgary. Ottawa, Gatineau and the surrounding municipalities include almost 1.5 million people, one of the six largest metropolitan areas in Canada.

In recent years, Ottawa’s population has grown by an average of about 28 people per day, including newborn babies, newcomers, students and other Canadians moving here. Overall, 70 per cent of our population growth has been from net migration – more people moving to Ottawa than moving away.

“Reaching one million in population is an important milestone for Ottawa, and an opportunity to celebrate all the reasons we have to be proud of our beautiful city. While Ottawa’s status as a G7 capital signifies our role in international governance, our residents also take pride in our rich cultural mosaic, connection with nature and the many attributes that make Ottawa a quintessentially Canadian city. That we grew to one million people with so many new residents moving here shows what an outstanding place Ottawa is to live, work, play and visit” – Jim Watson, Mayor, city of Ottawa.