Canada’s population declined last year, and Ontario felt it hard
More than 200,000 non-permanent residents left the province
Canada has experienced its first year of population decline on record, and Ontario was no exception.
The country lost over 100,000 people last year, on net, according to newly released estimates from Statistics Canada, and most of those who left were temporary residents like international students and foreign workers. That’s the first population decline the agency has ever recorded since it started keeping track in the 1940s, notes the Globe and Mail.
More than 460,000 temporary residents left the country in 2025, and just over half departed from Ontario. That was the direct result of an ongoing federal crackdown that began in 2024 and aims to reduce the national population’s share of temporary residents from 7.6 per cent to five per cent by the end of next year.
Permanent immigrants moving to Canada only partially offset the loss. While Ontario accepted the most immigrants of any province—roughly 40 per cent of the total—the country welcomed nearly 20 per cent fewer permanent immigrants last quarter compared to the same period in 2025. This, too, was the result of lower targets set by Ottawa.
Related: The perilous lives of Canada’s international students
For Ontario, that meant shedding about 0.3 per cent of its population in just three months. In addition to losing some 82,000 temporary residents, the province also bade farewell to around 7,000 citizens and permanent residents moving to other countries, and 1,500 people departed for other provinces.
The only provinces to experience a net gain in interprovincial migrants were Nova Scotia, BC and Alberta—the latter of which led the pack by a wide margin. The subway ads seem to have worked.
While the new numbers aren’t broken down city-by-city, it’s not hard to imagine the impact these changes could have on the GTA. Much of the international student influx was driven by local colleges attracting international students, whose departures have already affected housing prices and school budgets.
Population decline is an unprecedented situation for Canada, and the GTA is right at the heart of the issue. Whatever that means for our city, we’re about to find out.
Anthony Milton is a freelance journalist based in Toronto specializing in long-form magazine writing. He previously worked as an assistant editor at Toronto Life, where he launched the Front Row newsletter. He regularly contributes all sorts of stories to the magazine, including deep dives on sports, business and housing as well as short-form commentary on our ever-changing city, from its obsession with cherry blossoms to its maddening NIMBYism. His work has also appeared in Maclean’s, Ricochet, TVO, the Trillium and more.
