New Brunswick's death rate has overtaken its birth rate for the first time, confirming a trend that has seen more than 6,000 residents leave the province in the past two years.

Statistics Canada's latest national demographic report, which examines the period between July 1, 2005, and July 1, 2006 and was released on Wednesday, suggests New Brunswick's population is shrinking at an accelerated pace.

Since the spring of 2005, New Brunswick's population has shrunk by slightly more than 3,000 people, bringing the total number of residents to 749,168.

It's the largest single decline in New Brunswick's history, and has resulted in the provincial death rate eclipsing the birth rate for the first time in 200 years.

That shouldn't be a surprise to anyone, according to Rick Myers, a political science professor at St. Thomas University in Fredericton.

"As you have young people heading west in search of employment and older people replacing them here in retirement, that has a natural depressing effect on the birth rate. Younger people are leaving the province, it's older people who are backfilling. Naturally, you're going to have fewer births as a result."

As Myers indicates, the biggest drain stemmed from people moving to other provinces. During the first six months of 2006, New Brunswick had a net loss of 2,047 people moving to other provinces, with Alberta as the top destination.

Nearly 2,200 New Brunswickers moved there in 2006, while slightly more than 500 moved back. Alberta's oil and construction boom has played a key role in luring young New Brunswickers away.

Denise Bernier, who lives in Fredericton, said she's getting ready to go to Alberta, too. She has lived in the province her whole life and recently attended three different schools, testing several career goals, but hasn't been able to find the right fit.

When her friend told her how easy it was to find a job in Calgary, she decided to quit her job in Fredericton to look for work there.

"This is my last day," she said on Wednesday.

Bilingualism also a factor

The lure of high-paying jobs and opportunity isn't the only thing drawing young people away.

Anne Soucy, who manages the student employment centre at the University of New Brunswick, said many New Brunswick employers prefer to have bilingual staff — the province is officially bilingual — and that often deters people from even applying for jobs.

"If that is one of the stepping stones that is in their way, the bilingualism, and they don't have to deal with that by going away, then sometimes students are willing to take that chance knowing that hopefully after they've got some experience that they can come back to New Brunswick and the language issue won't be as big of a problem," she said.

The Statistics Canada report suggests international immigration is a growth area for New Brunswick, with 609 newcomers moving in during the first six months of 2006 — the best showing in 30 years.