From January 1 to April 1, 2025, the population of Canada increased by 20,107 people (+0.0%) to reach 41,548,787 people. This was the smallest quarterly growth since the third quarter of 2020, when the population decreased by 1,232 people (-0.0%) in the wake of border restrictions to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The first quarter of 2025 (+0.0%) marked the sixth consecutive quarter of slower population growth (Infographic 1) following announcements by the federal government in 2024 that it would lower the levels of both temporary and permanent immigration. This was the second-slowest quarterly growth rate in Canada since comparable records began (first quarter of 1946), behind only the third quarter of 2020 (-0.0%) and tied with the fourth quarter of 2014 (+0.0%). 

The growth in the first quarter of 2025 was slower than what is typically seen in a first quarter. For example, from the first quarter of 2001 to the first quarter of 2024, population growth ranged from an increase of 0.1% in 2015 to a gain of 0.6% in 2024, averaging 0.3% growth over this period.

Even with the reductions starting in 2024, international migration accounted for all of the population growth in the first quarter of 2025. This was because natural increase (births minus deaths) was negative (-5,628), meaning that there were more deaths than births. This is consistent with an aging population, a decreasing fertility rate and the higher numbers of deaths that typically occur during the winter months. Natural increase has been negative in every first quarter since 2022. 

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