Statistics Canada says the country's population continued to edge down in the fourth quarter, dropping by 0.2 per cent. A Statistics Canada sign is pictured in Ottawa on Wednesday, July 3, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

By The Canadian Press

Canada’s population edged lower in fourth quarter as non-permanent residents drop

Mar 18, 2026 | 10:07 AM

OTTAWA — Statistics Canada says the country’s population edged down in the fourth quarter, dipping 0.2 per cent.

The agency says preliminary estimates indicate the population fell by 103,504 people from Oct. 1, 2025 to Jan. 1, 2026 to bring the number of people in Canada to 41,472,081.

National Bank of Canada says in a note that the population decrease was the first back-to-back drop ever recorded.

Regionally, populations in B.C., Ontario and Quebec all contracted, while Alberta had the fastest growth rate of any province or territory, mainly driven by interprovincial inflows.

The overall drop came as the number of non-permanent residents in Canada is estimated to have fallen by 171,296 in the fourth quarter.

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The drop was partly offset by permanent immigration as Canada welcomed an estimated 83,168 immigrants in the quarter, which was down 19.6 per cent from 2024 levels.

The natural increase, the measure of births minus deaths, was down by 781 for the quarter — meaning there were more deaths than births last quarter.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 18, 2026.

The Canadian Press