One province and two territories incurred population declines of 5% or more between 1996 and 2001. They were Newfoundland and Labrador, the Yukon and the Northwest Territories.

Newfoundland and Labrador's population experienced its second consecutive census-to-census decline. The census counted 512,930 people in the province, down 7% from the previous census. This was more than twice the 2.9% rate of decline between 1991 and 1996. Newfoundland and Labrador had the strongest net outflow of interprovincial migrants of any province. It also had the nation's lowest fertility rate.

The census counted 28,674 people in the Yukon, down 6.8%, and 37,360 in the Northwest Territories, down 5.8%. Demographic change in the territories is quite volatile because of the small size of their population. Between 1991 and 1996, growth rates in the Yukon and the Northwest Territories were much higher than the Canadian average. However, leading up to the 2001 Census, high net outflows of migration to the rest of Canada contributed to the declines in population.