Nova Scotia is home to approximately 934,000 people and the population is expected to peak at about 990,000 over the next 20 years. With a birth rate of 1.6, most of this population increase will come through immigration.

The population is fairly evenly distributed across all age groups with a median age of just under 40. The exception to this is Halifax which because of a large university population has a median age of about 26.

Most people in Nova Scotia live in urban centres. Halifax Regional Municipality accounts for 40% of the population of Nova Scotia. But the percentage is much lower than in most of Canada and the U.S. Nova Scotia towns and rural communities offer a wonderful quality of life that many immigrants cherish.