The second largest country in the world by total area, Canada, is one of the most highly urbanized globally. However, none of its citizens have the right to own physical land in the country.
Land in Canada is solely owned by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, who is also the head of state.
Canadian law in most provinces evolved from British common law, so instead of directly owning land, Canadians have land tenure. That means they can only own an interest in an estate.
Only 9.7 percent of the total land is privately owned, while the rest is Crown Land. It is administered on behalf of the Crown by various agencies or departments of the government of Canada.
Of the land owned by the Queen, 50 percent is managed by the provincial government and the rest by the federal government. All of those lands are held as public (known as Crown Lands) and mainly used as national parks, forests, private homes, and for agriculture.
According to the latest United Nations estimates, the current population of Canada is more than 37 million people.