Immigrants and students fuel Canada's population growth to 70-year high

Canada's population has experienced a significant surge, reaching a nearly 70-year high in the 12 months leading up to July 1, 2023, according to Statistics Canada - driven largely by a substantial influx of immigrants and students.

These numbers come at a time when the Trudeau government is stuggling to control an acute housing crisis, exacerbated by a lag in construction and the arrival of a large number of newcomers.

Statscan had previously reported a population growth rate of 2.9% in the 12-month period ending on July 1, 2023. However, the release on Wednesday offers a more detailed breakdown of this growth.


Economists have noted that the arrival of new residents is placing a strain on public services and impacting the Canadian economy, which had, until recently, been experiencing overheating.

The population of Canada on July 1, 2023, reached 40,097,761, marking an increase of 1,158,705 individuals compared to the previous year. A staggering 98% of this growth can be attributed to net international migration.

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"Canada continued to lead G7 countries for population growth and was likely among the top 20 fastest-growing countries in the world," Statscan said in a release. Fertility rates dipped to record lows in 2022, with an average of 1.33 children per woman, down from 1.44 in 2021.

As of July 1, 2023, an estimated 2,198,679 non-permanent residents were residing in Canada, signifying a remarkable 46% increase from the same date in 2022. Statscan commented on this, saying, "This represents the largest year-over-year increase in the population of non-permanent residents ... since comparable data are available (1971/1972), with the increase in work and study permits accounting for most of the change."

Statistics Canada recently introduced a revised methodology in response to concerns raised by economists who have cautioned that the agency may be undercounting the temporary resident population. These changes aim to provide a more accurate estimation of the number of temporary residents in Canada, including those with expired visas or those in the process of renewing them. Importantly, Statistics Canada has noted that these adjustments have only a minimal impact on the overall size of the Canadian population.
According to the figures, the nation welcomed around 700,000 temporary residents in a 12-month period. As of July 1, there were 2.2 million temporary residents living in Canada, a 46% increase from the previous year. They currently outweigh the 1.8 million Indigenous people that were counted in the 2021 census.

The last time Canada's population increased more quickly was in 1957, which was also the year that the nation began to accept Hungarian refugees fleeing Soviet repression and was close to the peak of the postwar baby boom.

with agency inputs

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