Canada’s population growth rate continues to decline, largely owing to declining migration trends, Statistics Canada said on Wednesday.
The population of Canada reached an estimated 41,798,407 people on July 1, 2026, an increase of 189,425 people or 0.5 per cent from July 1, 2025.
This marked the lowest July-to-July growth in total population size since 1944/1945 and the lowest July-to-July percentage increase since 1915/1916, the agency added.
Canada’s population growth rate for July peaked at 2.8 per cent in 2023/2024, but has been steadily slowing on an annual basis since then.
The growth rate has more than halved compared to July 2024/2025, when it was 1.1 per cent.
In the second quarter of the year, from April 1 to July 1, Canada saw its population increase by 80,343 people or 0.2 per cent. This was the lowest growth in a second quarter since the second quarter of 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic had all but halted immigration levels.
Statistics Canada credited “changing international migration trends” with not only the slowdown in the population growth rate, but also with the average age in Canada increasing over the past two years.
As of July 1, 2026, the average Canadian was 42.1 years old.
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The number of non-permanent residents in Canada dropped by 154,614 people from July 2025 to reach 2,779,774 on July 1, 2026, or 6.7 per cent of the total population.
On Oct. 1, 2025, non-permanent residents were 7.2 per cent of the total population.
This was mostly led by a massive decline in the number of study permit holders (declined by 140,827) and work-and-study permit holders (81,163 drop).
The two segments that saw the largest declines in population were people between 20 and 24 years (2.4 per cent) and people between 25 and 29 (3.1 per cent).
Canada welcomed 99,148 immigrants in the second quarter of 2026, according to Statistics Canada. This number is 4.2 per cent lower than in the second quarter of 2025 (103,527).
Canadians over 65 now form 20 per cent of the population, an increase of 0.6 per cent, while Canadians aged 0 to 14 form 15 per cent of the population, a decline of 0.1 per cent.
Alberta had the fastest growing population (1.5 per cent), while British Columbia had the slowest rate of growth (0.1 per cent). The only province or territory to register a decline in population was the Northwest Territories, where the population declined by 0.3 per cent.
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Fertility and birth rate
In 2025, Canada’s fertility rate was unchanged at 1.26 children per woman.
The fertility rate has been steadily declining in Canada since 2009. The drops got sharper between 2017 and 2023, except for 2021 when an increase was recorded.
There was a smaller 0.8 per cent decline in 2024, before plateauing in 2025.
There were 372,521 babies born in Canada in 2025, a 1.6 per cent increase compared with 2024. There were more boys (51.3 per cent) born in Canada than girls (48.7 per cent).
In 2025, 43.8 per cent of mothers who gave birth in Canada were born in other countries, up from 32.7 per cent in 2021.
Population growth leads to gentrification and higher house and apartment costs, lost forests and municipalities rezoning park lands for new slum apartment buildings. That’s all I’ve seen so far and the slip is real.
What kind of b.s. article is this? You left out key info, even more than the article about Trump Ave.
You left out that a 100k plus Canadians leave every year. In 2024, a year before tariffs, we had 106k leave, which broke a 57 year record. In 2024 a new record was set at 120k leaving. We all know someone who decided to leave. Dual citizenship is the hottest ticket right now. And people able and willing to do the costly and hard work of relocation also tend to be the more successful people, so yes this is a brain drain. All thanks to the Lost Liberal Decade.
Not to worry as soon as Carney ties us to the EU as an associate member the EU will tell us we have to take the illegal migrants from all of the 27 EU countries just as they have told the UK that if they want to return to the EU they will have to do.
That should please the Liberals as they would easily fill their 100 million Canadian population quota by 2035.
@Good No, maybe not entirely, but near unlimited immigration certainly hasn’t helped to remedy these problems! As Jay said, let’s keep our population small and sparse, the way Canada should be – no overcrowding!
Close the door to Indians and Muslims
This is fine with me. I like my small, sparse population thank you very much! No over-crowding for Canada please. Happy they closed the flood gates opened by Trudon’t.
Send back all the filth that came here in the last ten years.
Maybe that’s why rents are dropping in many cities. Good. We don’t need more people.
If population of indians and muslambs declining, that’s a good thing
So less immigrants but housing is still expensive and jobs are still scarce… it’s almost like immigrants are not and have never been the problem. But keep whining about it
Hahahahahaha!