The Region of Waterloo’s population took a dramatic leap in 2023, mainly due to an influx of students in the area, according to a report that will go before council on Tuesday morning.
The report, which was prepared by staff for the planning committee, estimates that the population grew by 28,940 people in 2023, or 4.4 per cent, as it reached 673,910.
“Waterloo Region has experienced significant population and housing growth since 2020,” the report states. “However, population growth experienced in 2023 has significantly outpaced the high growth observed in previous years.”
The dramatic jump is a major increase from what the area saw a year earlier, when the population jumped by 14,660 people to 647,540, which was an increase of 2.3 per cent.
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“The temporary student population contributes substantially to the total population of Waterloo Region,” the report notes. “The significant growth in the Region’s population in 2023 is largely attributed to rising enrollment at local institutions.”
Conestoga College, which has campuses in the region’s three major cities, had 37,000 study permits approved or extended in 2023 and has seen its student population double over the past four years to 45,000 students.
Recently, the federal government introduced a new cap on foreign enrolment in Canada that will see the college’s permits slashed to 15,000 next year.
It is not expected to have much of an effect on two area universities, which are much less beholden to foreign students.
The report that will go before council takes this into account as it notes the “changes to Federal and Provincial program which will decrease the number of study permits issued for international students in 2024.”
All areas of the region saw a significant increase in the number of people but it should come as little surprise to learn that the brunt of the influx was in the three cities, as Kitchener saw 15,000 more people come to live in it, while Cambridge added 7,000 people and Waterloo added 6,000 residents.
*With files from Canadian Press
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