Calgary's population growth trickled to its lowest since the recessionary days of the early 1980s, as more people fled the city than moved here in the last year, according to civiv census results releases Thursday.

The 2010 census, which showed only 0.57 % growth, reported the smallest single-year population increase since 1984, when Calgary struggles under plunging oil prices and the population actually decreased.

It took the continuation of the city's baby boom to erase the net migration loss of 4,154 people - a reversal from the recent boom years, when newcomers arrived by the tens of thousands in search of jobs.

The city was home to 1,071,515 people in April, up from 1,065,455 last April. The increase of 6,060 people was less than one-third the growth city planners had forecast in 2008.