Reduction in temporary immigration has slowed population growth: Quebec Institute of Statistics

The Quebec Institute of Statistics (ISQ) reported on Wednesday that Quebec’s population continued to grow in 2024-2025, but at half the rate of the previous year.

At the provincial level, the population growth rate thus fell from 2 per cent in 2023-2024 to 0.7 per cent in 2024-2025. In its demographic overview for the year ending July 1, 2025, the ISQ notes that “after several years of strong growth, temporary immigration, composed mainly of temporary foreign workers, international students, and asylum seekers, declined in 2024-2025.” In fact, the report specifies, “the number of temporary immigrants continued to increase in most regions, but much less sharply than in 2023-2024, which greatly contributed to the slowdown in population growth.”

Major Decline in Montreal
Since the decline in temporary immigration is the primary cause of the slowdown in population growth, it is hardly surprising that the Montreal region has experienced the most significant slowdown, far surpassing all other regions. In fact, growth there has collapsed, falling from 3.4 per cent in 2023-2024 to 0.3 per cent in 2024-2025.

The declines are also quite pronounced in the Quebec City and Laval regions, among others.

Conversely, the Lanaudière region experienced the smallest decline, with population growth falling from 1.7 per cent to 1.6 per cent during the same period. Only the Côte-Nord and Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine regions saw their populations decrease, by 0.2 per cent in both cases.

Of note, it was the increase in permanent immigration that mitigated the impact of the decline in temporary immigration in most regions, with the exception of Montreal, Laval, Montérégie, Outaouais, and Northern Quebec, where permanent immigration was down. Furthermore, the data confirms the regionalization of immigration, with 45 per cent of new permanent residents in 2024-2025 living in Montreal, compared to 75 per cent twenty years ago.

More deaths than births
Immigration in general remains the main driver of population growth, since in most regions, the number of deaths exceeds the number of births. In other words, without immigration, Quebec’s population would be declining almost everywhere.

Only Northern Quebec experienced population growth primarily attributable to a higher number of births than deaths. Furthermore, the Montreal, Laval, Montérégie, and Outaouais regions recorded more births than deaths in 2024-2025, but the surplus was very small and did not have a significant impact on population growth.

Finally, many Quebecers moved from one region to another, as they do every year, a phenomenon known as interregional migration. Montreal, Laval, Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Côte-Nord, and Northern Quebec lost residents to other regions. Conversely, the Lanaudière, Laurentians, Chaudière-Appalaches, and Central Quebec regions experienced the largest population gains attributable to interregional migration.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews