Canada’s population growth rate continues to decline, largely owing to declining migration trends, Statistics Canada said on Wednesday.
The population of Canada reached an estimated 41,798,407 people on July 1, 2026, an increase of 189,425 people or 0.5 per cent from July 1, 2025.
This marked the lowest July-to-July growth in total population size since 1944/1945 and the lowest July-to-July percentage increase since 1915/1916, the agency added.
Canada’s population growth rate for July peaked at 2.8 per cent in 2023/2024, but has been steadily slowing on an annual basis since then.
The growth rate has more than halved compared to July 2024/2025, when it was 1.1 per cent.
In the second quarter of the year, from April 1 to July 1, Canada saw its population increase by 80,343 people or 0.2 per cent. This was the lowest growth in a second quarter since the second quarter of 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic had all but halted immigration levels.
Statistics Canada credited “changing international migration trends” with not only the slowdown in the population growth rate, but also with the average age in Canada increasing over the past two years.
As of July 1, 2026, the average Canadian was 42.1 years old.
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The number of non-permanent residents in Canada dropped by 154,614 people from July 2025 to reach 2,779,774 on July 1, 2026, or 6.7 per cent of the total population.
On Oct. 1, 2025, non-permanent residents were 7.2 per cent of the total population.
This was mostly led by a massive decline in the number of study permit holders (declined by 140,827) and work-and-study permit holders (81,163 drop).
The two segments that saw the largest declines in population were people between 20 and 24 years (2.4 per cent) and people between 25 and 29 (3.1 per cent).
Canada welcomed 99,148 immigrants in the second quarter of 2026, according to Statistics Canada. This number is 4.2 per cent lower than in the second quarter of 2025 (103,527).
Canadians over 65 now form 20 per cent of the population, an increase of 0.6 per cent, while Canadians aged 0 to 14 form 15 per cent of the population, a decline of 0.1 per cent.
Alberta had the fastest growing population (1.5 per cent), while British Columbia had the slowest rate of growth (0.1 per cent). The only province or territory to register a decline in population was the Northwest Territories, where the population declined by 0.3 per cent.
In 2025, Canada’s fertility rate was unchanged at 1.26 children per woman.
The fertility rate has been steadily declining in Canada since 2009. The drops got sharper between 2017 and 2023, except for 2021 when an increase was recorded.
There was a smaller 0.8 per cent decline in 2024, before plateauing in 2025.
There were 372,521 babies born in Canada in 2025, a 1.6 per cent increase compared with 2024. There were more boys (51.3 per cent) born in Canada than girls (48.7 per cent).
In 2025, 43.8 per cent of mothers who gave birth in Canada were born in other countries, up from 32.7 per cent in 2021.
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
