Investing.com -- Canada's population growth slowed in the fourth quarter of 2024, according to a report from Statistics Canada. The country's population reached 41,528,680 people on January 1, 2025, marking an increase of 63,382 people or a 0.2% growth rate compared to October 1, 2024.
This growth rate continues the slowdown that began after the peak in the third quarter of 2023, when the growth rate was 1.1%. This slowdown marks the slowest rate since the fourth quarter of 2020, during the period of COVID-19 related border restrictions.
The report also noted that the number of non-permanent residents in the country decreased by 28,341 between October 1, 2024, and January 1, 2025. This decline, the first since the fourth quarter of 2021, is the largest since the third quarter of 2020, when pandemic-related border restrictions were in place.
On January 1, 2025, there were 3,020,936 non-permanent residents in Canada, making up 7.3% of the total population, down slightly from 7.4% on October 1, 2024.
In the fourth quarter of 2024, the decrease in the number of people holding only a study permit was offset by an increase in the number of asylum claimants, protected persons and related groups.
Despite the slowdown in the later part of the year, Canada's population increased by 744,324 people in 2024, a growth rate of 1.8%. This growth rate was lower than those in 2022 and 2023, but higher than any year from 1972 to 2021.
The majority of the population increase occurred in the first two quarters of the year, with international migration driving most of the growth. In 2024, the number of non-permanent residents increased from 2,729,771 on January 1, 2024, to 3,020,936 on January 1, 2025.
Canada welcomed 103,481 permanent immigrants in the fourth quarter of 2024, bringing the total to 483,591 for the year, in line with the 2024-2026 Immigration Levels Plan of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.
The report also highlighted that three of the four Atlantic provinces, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia, recorded small population losses from October 1, 2024, to January 1, 2025. These declines were due to decreases in the number of non-permanent residents, a negative natural increase, fewer new immigrants, and losses or smaller gains from interprovincial migration.
Among the provinces, the fastest growth in the fourth quarter was seen in the Prairie provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. As for the territories, Yukon and Nunavut each saw growth of 0.4%, while the Northwest Territories posted growth of 0.3%. The population of Manitoba has now surpassed 1.5 million people.
Interprovincial migration in the fourth quarter of 2024 followed recent trends, with fewer migrants than in the previous three quarters. Alberta continued to have the largest net gain from other provinces and territories in the fourth quarter of 2024.
