Canada just had its slowest ever population growth rate excluding the pandemic

Pedestrians walk in Place Jacques-Cartier in Old Montreal, Que. Photo by Graham Hughes/THE CANADIAN PRESS files

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The federal government’s curbs on immigration seem to be working, with Canada’s population in the first quarter growing by the second slowest rate on record, according to new Statistics Canada estimates released Wednesday.

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About 20,000 people were added between January and April this year, which is essentially a zero per cent growth rate and the lowest it has been since records began in 1946.

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Only when Canada closed its borders during the pandemic, leading to a population decline of 1,232 people in the third quarter of 2020, has the growth rate been lower. The average growth rate between 2015 and 2024 was 0.3 per cent .

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“The first quarter of 2025 marked the sixth consecutive quarter of slower population growth following announcements by the federal government in 2024 that it would lower the levels of both temporary and permanent immigration,” the agency said.

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Ottawa in 2024 said it would try to reduce the number of immigrants that Canada annually brings in after increasing its targets in previous years. It also said it would reduce the number of temporary residents, such as students or foreign workers, to about five per cent of the overall population by 2027.

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These changes were announced due to a changing economy, former prime minister Justin Trudeau said at a press conference last year.

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Canada had significant labour shortages after it closed its borders during the pandemic, so the number of new people allowed into the country was increased, but economic conditions have changed since then.

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“We need to let our communities, infrastructures, catch up to the population,” Trudeau said at the time. “That’s why we’re pausing population growth by reducing immigration numbers for the next two years, so we can get back pragmatically to a place where Canada can once again grow.”

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Mark Carney‘s government seems to be following a similar approach so far.

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The first quarter also had one of the largest declines in the number of temporary residents, which is contrary to the dramatic increase reported between 2022 and 2024, when Canada relied on foreign labour to fill job shortages.

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As of April 1, there were about 2.9 million temporary residents in Canada, or about 7.1 per cent of the overall population, which is down from the peak of 7.4 per cent on Oct. 1, 2024. The number of temporary residents has dropped by about 61,000 since the start of the year.

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The only time Canada had a larger decline in temporary residents was during the third quarter of 2020, when there were 67,698 fewer people due to pandemic-related border restrictions.

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The largest decrease in non-permanent residents in the first quarter this year came from people holding only a study permit — 53,669 — and the decline mostly occurred in Ontario and British Columbia.