Canada
Name
| Official name | Canada — no longer form; the Dominion of Canada in the Act of 1867 |
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| Demonym | Canadian; Canadien, Canadienne |
| Meaning of the name | From kanata, "village" or "settlement" in St. Lawrence Iroquoian, which Jacques Cartier took for the name of the country in 1535 |
| Motto | "A Mari usque ad Mare" — from sea to sea (Psalm 72:8); granted 1921; "from sea to sea to sea" in common use for the third, Arctic, coast |
| Provinces and territories | 10 provinces — Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island — and 3 territories: Yukon, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut |
Quick facts
| Capital | Ottawa, Ontario — the capital since 1867; about 1.5 million in Ottawa–Gatineau |
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| Largest cities | Toronto, about 7 million; Montreal, about 4.5 million; Vancouver, about 2.9 million; Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa–Gatineau, Winnipeg, Quebec City |
| Official languages | English and French — the Official Languages Act of 1969; French the sole official language of Quebec; some 70 Indigenous languages; Inuktut official in Nunavut |
| Currency | Canadian dollar — ISO code CAD, $; 100 cents; the loonie and the toonie |
| Time zones | Six — Newfoundland UTC−3:30, Atlantic −4, Eastern −5, Central −6, Mountain −7, Pacific −8; daylight time in most of the country |
| Calling code | +1 |
| Internet domain | .ca |
| ISO 3166 codes | CA · CAN · 124 |
| Vehicle registration code | CDN |
| Driving side | Right |
| Electricity | 120 V, 60 Hz; plug types A and B |
| Confederation | 1 July 1867 — the British North America Act uniting Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick; the last province, Newfoundland, joined 31 March 1949 |
| Independence | The Statute of Westminster, 11 December 1931, ended British legislative authority; the Constitution Act of 17 April 1982 patriated the constitution |
| National days | 1 July, Canada Day; 24 June, Saint-Jean-Baptiste in Quebec; 21 June, National Indigenous Peoples Day; 30 September, Truth and Reconciliation Day; 11 November, Remembrance Day; 15 February, National Flag Day |
| Constitution | The Constitution Acts of 1867 and 1982 — the latter with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms — plus unwritten convention |
| Population | 36,991,981 at the census of 2021; about 41.6 million (Statistics Canada, 2026 est.); the census of 12 May 2026 reports in 2027 |
| Area | 9,984,670 km² (3,855,100 sq mi) — land 9,093,507 km², water 891,163 km²; the second-largest country in the world |
Flag & national symbols
| National flag | The Maple Leaf — a red eleven-pointed maple leaf on a white square between two red bars, in the proportion 1:2 — proclaimed by Queen Elizabeth II on 28 January 1965 and first raised on 15 February 1965, replacing the Canadian Red Ensign; red and white the national colors since 1921.Flag of Canada |
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| Coat of arms | The Royal Arms of Canada — the lions of England, the lion of Scotland, the harp of Ireland and the fleurs-de-lis of France over a sprig of maple leaves, with the lion and unicorn as supporters; granted by George V on 21 November 1921, revised 1994 |
| National anthem | "O Canada" — music by Calixa Lavallée, French words by Adolphe-Basile Routhier (1880), English words by Robert Stanley Weir (1908); adopted by the National Anthem Act, 1 July 1980; "in all of us command" since 2018 |
| Royal anthem | "God Save the King" |
| National colors | Red and white — proclaimed by George V, 21 November 1921 |
| National animal | The beaver — by the National Symbol of Canada Act, 24 March 1975; the Canadian horse by Act of 2002 |
| National tree | The maple — proclaimed 1996; the maple leaf the emblem since the 1830s |
| National sports | Ice hockey in winter and lacrosse in summer — the National Sports of Canada Act, 12 May 1994 |
| National tartan | The Maple Leaf tartan — official since 9 March 2011 |
| National bird and flower | None designated — the gray jay proposed by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society in 2016 was never adopted; each province has its own |
| Symbol status | The flag, anthem, animal, sports and tartan are fixed by proclamation or Act of Parliament; the horse by Act; the tree by proclamation |
Geography
| Location | Northern North America — from the Atlantic to the Pacific and north to the Arctic, above the United States; Greenland and Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon the other neighbors by sea |
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| Land border | 8,891 km (5,525 mi) with the United States — 2,475 km of it with Alaska; the longest international border in the world |
| Coastline | 202,080 km (125,567 mi) — the longest of any country, on three oceans |
| Highest point | Mount Logan, 5,959 m (19,551 ft), Yukon — the second-highest peak in North America |
| Lowest point | The Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic Oceans, 0 m |
| Mean elevation | 487 m (1,598 ft) |
| Longest river | The Mackenzie, 4,241 km (2,635 mi) with its headwaters, to the Arctic; the St. Lawrence to the Atlantic; the Yukon, the Fraser, the Nelson, the Columbia |
| Largest lakes | Lake Superior, the largest freshwater lake by area, shared; Great Bear Lake, 31,328 km², the largest wholly in Canada; Great Slave Lake, the deepest in North America; Lake Winnipeg; some two million lakes in all |
| Largest island | Baffin Island, 507,451 km² — the fifth-largest in the world; Manitoulin the largest island in a lake |
| Hudson Bay | The largest bay in the world by shoreline, about 1.2 million km² |
| The Bay of Fundy | The highest tides on earth — about 16 m (52 ft) at Burntcoat Head |
| Terrain | The Canadian Shield of ancient rock across half the country; the Rockies and the Coast Mountains in the west; the prairies; the St. Lawrence lowlands; the Appalachians in the east; the Arctic archipelago of some 36,000 islands |
| Climate | From temperate on the Pacific coast to subarctic and arctic in the north; continental extremes on the prairies — Snag, Yukon, recorded −63°C in 1947 |
| Natural hazards | Blizzards and ice storms; wildfire — the record season of 2023 burned about 15 million hectares; floods; earthquakes on the Pacific coast; permafrost thaw |
| Natural resources | Oil sands — the third-largest oil reserves in the world — natural gas, potash, uranium, nickel, gold, timber, fresh water, hydropower |
| Land use | Forest about 38% — a tenth of the world's forests; agricultural land about 7%; some 9% water |
| National parks | 48 national parks and reserves — Banff the first, 1885; Wood Buffalo the largest, 44,807 km²; Nahanni, Jasper, Gros Morne, Auyuittuq |
| UNESCO World Heritage | 22 — from L'Anse aux Meadows and Nahanni (1978) to the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks, Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, Old Québec, Gros Morne, Dinosaur Provincial Park, Pimachiowin Aki, Anticosti (2023) and Tr'ondëk-Klondike (2023) |
| Administrative divisions | 10 provinces and 3 territories — Nunavut the youngest, carved from the Northwest Territories on 1 April 1999 |
People
| Population | 36,991,981 (census of 2021); about 41.6 million (2026 est.) |
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| Population density | About 4 per km² (11 per sq mi) — among the lowest in the world; four in five within 150 km of the U.S. border |
| Population growth | About 1% in 2025, down from a record 3% in 2023 as immigration was cut |
| Median age | About 41 years |
| Life expectancy | About 82 years |
| Fertility rate | About 1.3 births per woman — a record low |
| Urban population | About 82% |
| Immigrants | About 23% foreign-born — the highest share among the G7; India, China and the Philippines the largest sources |
| Indigenous peoples | About 1.8 million — 5% — First Nations, Inuit and Métis; 630 First Nations communities |
| Languages | English the mother tongue of about 55%, French of about 20%; Mandarin, Punjabi, Cantonese, Spanish, Arabic and Tagalog the largest others; about 18% bilingual in the two official languages |
| Religion | Christian about 53%; no religion about 35%; Muslim about 5%; Hindu about 2%; Sikh about 2%; Jewish, Buddhist (census of 2021) |
| Human Development Index | 0.939 (2023 data, 2025 report) — very high; 16th of 193 |
| Education | The highest share of adults with tertiary education in the OECD — about 63% |
| Sport | Hockey — the NHL's seven Canadian teams and Olympic golds; lacrosse; the CFL; basketball, invented by the Canadian James Naismith; the World Cup of 2026 co-hosted in Toronto and Vancouver; the Olympics of Montreal 1976, Calgary 1988 and Vancouver 2010 |
| Diaspora | About 4 million Canadians abroad, most in the United States |
Government
| Form of government | Federal parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy — the Westminster system |
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| Head of state | King Charles III, since 8 September 2022 — King of Canada, a crown separate from the United Kingdom's |
| Governor General | Louise Arbour, since 8 June 2026 — the 31st; a former justice of the Supreme Court, chief prosecutor of the Yugoslavia and Rwanda tribunals and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; the first appointed by Charles III, succeeding Mary Simon, the first Indigenous governor general (2021–2026) |
| Prime Minister | Mark Carney (Liberal), since 14 March 2025 — the 24th; governor of the Bank of Canada 2008–2013 and of the Bank of England 2013–2020; MP for Nepean since 28 April 2025 |
| The 2025 election | Held 28 April 2025: the Liberals 169 of 343 seats on 43.8%, the Conservatives under Pierre Poilievre 144 on 41.3%, the Bloc Québécois 22, the NDP 7, the Greens 1; turnout 69.5% — a fourth consecutive Liberal term, the first two held by Trudeau |
| The majority | A minority government until 13 April 2026, a majority since, after floor crossings and by-elections — 173 seats of 343 |
| Parliament | The House of Commons — 343 members elected for up to five years; the Senate — 105 members appointed to age 75 |
| The next election | Due by October 2029 |
| Opposition | Pierre Poilievre, Conservative leader since 2022; Yves-François Blanchet of the Bloc; Avi Lewis, NDP leader since 29 March 2026 |
| The Alberta referendum | On 19 October 2026 Alberta votes on ten questions — five on provincial policy, four on constitutional change, and a tenth, added by Premier Danielle Smith on 21 May 2026, on whether the province should remain in Canada or begin the legal process toward a binding referendum on separation; the vote does not bind the government |
| The United States | A trade dispute since 2025 — U.S. tariffs on steel, aluminum, autos, lumber and other goods and Canadian counter-tariffs — beside the review of the Canada–United States–Mexico Agreement due in 2026 |
| Legal system | Common law, with civil law in Quebec; the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices; the Charter of Rights and Freedoms since 1982 |
| Provinces | Each with a premier, a legislature and a lieutenant governor; the territories with commissioners |
| United Nations | A founding member, 9 November 1945 |
| Memberships | NATO (a founder, 1949), the G7, the G20, the Commonwealth, the Francophonie, the OECD, the WTO, the OAS, APEC, the Arctic Council, Five Eyes |
Economy
| GDP (nominal) | About US$2.3 trillion (2025, IMF) — the tenth-largest economy in the world |
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| GDP per capita | About US$55,000 (2025) |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | About US$65,000 (2025) |
| GDP growth | About 1–1.5% a year (2024–25), slowed by the tariffs |
| Economy by sector | Services about 70%, industry about 28%, agriculture about 2% |
| Currency | Canadian dollar (CAD) |
| Trade | About three-quarters of exports to the United States — oil and gas, autos and parts, gold, lumber, aluminum, wheat and canola, potash, aircraft; the Canada–United States–Mexico Agreement of 2020 |
| Oil | The fourth-largest producer in the world — about 5 million barrels a day, mostly from the Alberta oil sands; the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion opened 2024 |
| Mining | The largest producer of potash; among the leaders in uranium, nickel, gold and diamonds |
| Agriculture | Wheat, canola and pulses from the prairies — the largest exporter of canola and lentils; some 70% of the world's maple syrup, from Quebec |
| Technology and finance | Toronto the second-largest financial center in North America; the Waterloo and Montreal technology clusters; the five big banks |
| Public finances | The federal budget of 4 November 2025 — a deficit of about C$78 billion, on defense and infrastructure spending |
| Income classification | High income (World Bank); a G7 member since 1976 |
Transport & infrastructure
| Main airports | Toronto Pearson, the busiest; Vancouver, Montréal–Trudeau, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa |
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| Airlines | Air Canada, the flag carrier since 1937; WestJet; Porter |
| Main ports | Vancouver, the largest in the country; Montreal; Prince Rupert; Halifax; the St. Lawrence Seaway to the Great Lakes |
| Railways | About 49,000 km (30,000 mi) — Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Kansas City the freight giants; VIA Rail for passengers; the CPR completed 7 November 1885 at Craigellachie |
| Roads | About 1.1 million km (680,000 mi); the Trans-Canada Highway, 7,476 km from Victoria to St. John's, opened 1962 |
| Transit | The Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver subways and SkyTrain; the Confederation Bridge, 12.9 km, to Prince Edward Island |
History in dates
| c. 1000 | Norse settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland |
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| 1497 | John Cabot reaches Newfoundland |
| 1534 | Jacques Cartier claims the Gulf of St. Lawrence for France |
| 1608 | Samuel de Champlain founds Quebec |
| 1759 | The Plains of Abraham — Quebec falls to the British, 13 September |
| 1763 | The Treaty of Paris cedes New France to Britain |
| 1867 | Confederation, 1 July — the Dominion of Canada |
| 1885 | The last spike of the Canadian Pacific Railway, 7 November |
| 1917 | Vimy Ridge, 9 April |
| 1931 | The Statute of Westminster, 11 December |
| 1949 | Newfoundland joins, 31 March |
| 1965 | The Maple Leaf flag, 15 February |
| 1982 | The Constitution patriated; the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, 17 April |
| 1995 | The Quebec referendum — 50.6% No, 30 October |
| 1999 | Nunavut created, 1 April |
| 2022 | Charles III king, 8 September |
| 2025 | Mark Carney prime minister, 14 March; the election of 28 April |
| 2026 | A Liberal majority, 13 April; Louise Arbour governor general, 8 June; the Alberta referendum due 19 October |
Records & firsts
| The second-largest country | 9,984,670 km² |
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| The longest coastline | 202,080 km |
| The longest border | 8,891 km with the United States |
| The most lakes | Some two million — about 60% of the world's |
| The highest tides | The Bay of Fundy, about 16 m |
| The northernmost permanent settlement | Alert, Nunavut, 82°30′ N |
| The oldest known rocks | The Acasta Gneiss of the Northwest Territories, about 4 billion years |
| Insulin | Discovered at Toronto by Banting and Best, 1921 |
| Basketball | Invented by the Canadian James Naismith, 1891 |
| The maple syrup capital | About 70% of the world's supply |
| The most educated country | The highest share of graduates in the OECD |
Frequently asked questions
What is the official name of Canada?
Canada — simply that, in both official languages; the country has no longer form. The Constitution Act of 1867 named the new federation the Dominion of Canada, and "Dominion" fell out of official use in the mid-20th century. The name comes from kanata, the St. Lawrence Iroquoian word for "village," which Jacques Cartier heard at Stadacona in 1535 and applied to the land.
What is the capital of Canada?
Ottawa, on the Ottawa River at the border of Ontario and Quebec — chosen by Queen Victoria in 1857 as a compromise between Montreal, Toronto, Quebec City and Kingston, and the capital since Confederation in 1867, with about 1.5 million people in Ottawa–Gatineau. Toronto, at about 7 million, is the largest city; Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton follow.
How big is Canada, and how many people live there?
About 9,984,670 km² (3,855,100 sq mi) — the second-largest country on earth after Russia, spanning six time zones and 41 percent of North America — with the longest coastline of any country, 202,080 km, and the longest land border, 8,891 km with the United States. The census of 2021 counted 36,991,981 people; Statistics Canada estimates about 41.6 million in 2026, most of them within 200 km of the American border. The next census was taken on 12 May 2026.
What are the highest and lowest points of Canada?
Mount Logan, 5,959 m (19,551 ft), in the St. Elias Mountains of Yukon — the second-highest peak in North America — and the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic Oceans, which give Canada the only three-ocean coastline of any country except Russia. The Mackenzie is the longest river system, 4,241 km; the Bay of Fundy has the highest tides in the world, about 16 m.
What currency does Canada use?
The Canadian dollar (ISO code CAD, $ or C$), of 100 cents, issued by the Bank of Canada since 1935; the one-cent coin was withdrawn in 2013 and the one- and two-dollar coins are the loonie and the toonie. The country keeps six time zones, from UTC−3:30 in Newfoundland to UTC−8 on the Pacific coast, with daylight time in most provinces.
Who governs Canada?
King Charles III is head of state, represented by Governor General Louise Arbour, the former Supreme Court justice and UN human rights commissioner installed on 8 June 2026; Mark Carney, the former governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, has been prime minister since 14 March 2025, when he succeeded Justin Trudeau, and won the election of 28 April 2025 — his Liberals a minority then and a majority since 13 April 2026 through floor crossings and by-elections. The next federal election is due by 2029. On 19 October 2026 Alberta votes in a referendum whose tenth question asks whether the province should begin the legal process toward a binding vote on separation from Canada.
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