Impact of immigration on Canada’s population growth 2014–2027
Starting in 2025, Canada will have targets for temporary residents, including international students and temporary foreign workers. This graph includes projections of permanent resident and non-permanent resident populations for 2025, 2026 and 2027.
Canada’s Population Growth with PRs and NPRs: 2014–2027
Text version
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024* | 2025* | 2026* | 2027* | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of PRs | 260,309 | 271,839 | 296,373 | 286,537 | 321,054 | 341,175 | 184,599 | 406,050 | 437,627 | 471,817 | 485,000 | 395,000 | 380,000 | 365,000 |
| Net NPRs | 16,970 | -9,330 | 88,722 | 138,034 | 154,917 | 189,781 | -96,066 | 77,538 | 551,544 | 820,766 | 299,216 | -445,901 | -445,622 | 17,440 |
| Population Growth (%) | 0.9% | 0.8% | 1.2% | 1.3% | 1.5% | 1.6% | 0.3% | 1.3% | 2.5% | 3.1% | 1.9% | -0.2% | -0.2% | 0.8% |
*projected years based on IRCC’s estimation (in collaboration with Statistics Canada) as of October 16, 2024
Canada’s increase in non-permanent residents has been the result of a combination of more international students, temporary foreign workers, humanitarian commitments and increasing rates of asylum claims.
To achieve the 5% goal, a number of measures have already been announced, including
- ending temporary post-pandemic policies that helped with our economic recovery but increased our temporary foreign workers
- capping international student admissions, reducing them to 10% lower than 2024 international student levels
- reducing and limiting work permits for spouses and dependents of temporary workers and international students
These reforms have been successful in reducing non-permanent residents. For example, the number of international students is down 43% in the first 9 months of 2024 compared to 2023.
With the measures we’ve already announced and Canada’s Immigration Levels Plan, we see the impact in the graph on non-permanent residents as well as on permanent residents.
Canada’s net non-permanent resident population is projected to decline over the next 2 years, reaching 5% of the total population by the end of 2026.
Additionally, the plan reduces permanent resident targets starting next year. This will continue to decrease for the following 2 years to stabilize population growth for long-term economic success.
Page details
- Date modified: