Commuters walk downtown near Union Station, in Toronto, on Aug. 22, 2024. The Canadian Press/Paige Taylor White
Canada’s population decreased by 76,068 people in the third quarter of 2025 due primarily to a drop in non-permanent residents, which was the largest drop for a single quarter since Statistics Canada began keeping comparable records in 1971.
StatCan said the 0.2 percent decline in the country’s population came as a result of the federal government’s changing immigration policies. Back in 2024, Ottawa announced it would be putting a two-year intake cap on the number of international student permit applications, while reducing the number of temporary residents from 6.5 percent of Canada’s population to 5 percent over the next three years.
