Canada’s population reached 41,528,680 on January 1, 2025, marking a quarterly increase of just 0.2%. The growth is slower than the 1.1% increase observed in the third quarter of 2023, signaling a continued slowdown in population growth. The 63,382 people added to the population between October 1, 2024, and January 1, 2025, represent the smallest quarterly growth since the fourth quarter of 2020.
The slower growth in the fourth quarter of 2024 is partly due to seasonal trends. Fewer people move to Canada during the colder months, and birth rates typically decrease while death rates rise. The fourth-quarter growth rate in 2024 mirrors patterns seen before the pandemic, when quarterly growth ranged from 0.0% to 0.3%.
However, a key driver behind this slower growth is a decrease in the number of non-permanent residents. On January 1, 2025, Canada had 28,341 fewer non-permanent residents than three months earlier, marking the first decline since late 2021. The decrease in non-permanent residents is partly due to fewer work permit holders and international students, whose numbers typically drop at the end of the year.
While the population continues to grow primarily due to immigration, the growth in non-permanent residents has significantly slowed. In 2024, Canada welcomed 483,591 permanent immigrants, a record high. However, the number of non-permanent residents grew by 291,165 in 2024, far smaller than the previous year’s increase of over 800,000.
Population growth has varied across Canada. Alberta, the Prairie province with the strongest economy, saw the highest growth in the fourth quarter, with a 0.6% increase. Saskatchewan and Manitoba followed with modest growth of 0.3%.
On the other hand, the Atlantic provinces—Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia—experienced small population declines.
Alberta also led the country in interprovincial migration, gaining 5,292 people in the fourth quarter. This trend of people moving to Alberta for work and better opportunities continues to shape the province’s population growth. Quebec, in contrast, saw a slight outflow of 1,901 people in 2024, though this was the smallest loss in interprovincial migration for the province since 2003.
Overall, Canada’s population grew by 744,324 people in 2024, an increase of 1.8%. While this is lower than the 3.1% growth in 2023, it is still one of the highest growth rates in recent decades. Immigration accounted for nearly all of this growth, with international migration contributing 97.3% of the increase for the year.