Canada reverses its population decline

Friday 25 September 2026

We recently reported that Canada’s population has been declining because the centre-left Liberal government decided in late 2024 to slash immigration.

In the March quarter of 2026, Statistics Canada reported that Canada’s population had declined by 234,500 from its peak in Q2 2025, driven by a 590,500 reduction in non-permanent residents (NPRs) from their peak in Q3 2024:

However, new data from Statistics Canada has significantly revised population growth and immigration upwards.

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About the author

Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.