Vancouver : In what appears to be the fallout of crackdown on international students and other Non Permanent (PR) residents, Canada has witnessed largest drop in its population in the recent quarter. The decline is likely to increase more in coming days as Government authorities are further tightening immigration.
As per Statics Canada estimates released on Wednesday, population decreased by 76,068 people (-0.2%) over the third quarter of 2025 and reached at 41.6 million from earlier figure of 41.65 million of 1 July. Statistics Canada’s Demographic Estimates Program—show that the population decrease was mainly due to a drop in non-permanent residents and changing government policies concerning international migration.
In the third quarter of 2023, Canada’s quarterly population growth was 1.0% with 418,634 residents were added while in the third quarter of 2024, the population increased by 231,803 residents. As per preliminary estimates, Ontario (-0.4%) and British Columbia (-0.3%) have seen the largest population decrease in the third quarter of 2025, followed by Manitoba and the Northwest Territories (both -0.2%).
While talking to TV Punjab, some local businessmen said that government must facilitate the quick immigration of skilled labor.
“Government should tightened the immigration to prevent the entry of criminals in Canada. But simultaneously it must also take required steps to ensure the availability of skilled labor to businesses as skilled labor is the backbone of economy” he said.
Figures show that On October 1, 2025, there were 2.8 million non-permanent residents in Canada and it was 6.8% of the total population. But earlier the number was 3 million in July 1, 2025 and that was 7.3% of the total population. The higher outflows 339,505 caused by various reasons than arrivals of 163,026 , seems to have contributed largely in the decrease of population.