Emigration up, immigration down: Trends contributing to slower population growth, says StatCan

Of note:

The number of people leaving the country has been slowly increasing in recent years, according to recent data from Statistics Canada. Meanwhile, immigration levels are down in the wake of federal reductions. Both these trends are contributing to a larger picture of significantly slowing population growth, according to StatCan analysis.

StatCan includes Canadian citizens and permanent residents when it refers to emigration or emigrants — folks who leave Canada to reestablish their permanent residence in another country. Immigrants, people who come to live in Canada, include permanent residents and landed immigrants.

How many people have been leaving Canada?

During the first quarter of this year, 27,086 people emigrated from Canada. It was 25,394 in the first quarter of 2022, then 25,536 in the first quarter of 2023 and up to 26,293 in the same quarter of 2024. The number of emigrants peaked at more than 31,000 in the third quarter of 2017, and hit over 30K midway through 2018 and 2019.

The number of emigrants peaked at more than 31,000 in the third quarter of 2017, and hit over 30K midway through 2018 and 2019.

The lowest emigration level in recent years was in the second quarter of 2020 — at just 7,431. Though, that’s unsurprising considering it is when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. After that, emigration started ramping up again.

What are the predictors of likely emigration?

A 2024 StatCan report looked at the likelihood of departure by folks who had previously immigrated to Canada.

It showed that 5.1 per cent  of immigrants admitted between 1982 and 2017 emigrated within five years of arriving. That number jumped to 17.5 per cent 20 years after entering Canada.

The report did not present data on eventual destinations as “emigrants are not required to report their departure from Canada or their destination,” Jada Cormier a communications officer with Statistics Canada told National Post in an email….

Source: Emigration up, immigration down: Trends contributing to slower population growth, says StatCan