As of this past July 1st Canada Day, nearly 36,287,000 people were living in this country.

Statistics Canada says a record number of immigrants arriving in the last year helped push the country’s population to that new record number.

The agency says the country recorded an overall increase of more than 437,000 people, or 1.2 per cent, during the 2015-16 fiscal year – an increase not seen since 1988-89.

The overall rise was driven by the arrival of more than 320,000 immigrants – a number boosted by an influx of Syrian refugees.