With the intake of permanent immigrants dropping by nearly 20% in 2025 as against the previous year, Canada recorded its lowest level of immigration since 2020, the year when the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted travel across the globe.
A report in the news website National Post, based on analysis of government data by the Montreal-based Association for Canadian Studies (ACS), said that the 2025 figure “deviates from a decade-long pattern of accelerating increases.”
There were 393,530 new permanent immigrants to Canada in 2025 compared to 483,655 in 2024, marking a 19% reduction in their numbers. Much of the decrease was driven by the decline in immigrants from India, with their numbers going down from 127,375 to 98,770. The number of Indian permanent residents admitted to Canada rose from just 42,875 in 2020 to a peak of 139,790 in 2023.
However, the decline spanned categories. For instance, study permits issued dropped nearly 25% or 131,010, with Indians accounting for a massive 72% of that fall. India is the largest source country for this category and their numbers fell from 188,175 in 2024 to 94,605 in 2025.
There was also a 12% drop in the number of temporary foreign workers admitted to Canada last year, down from 190,945 to 168,245.
There was also a 23% decrease in refugees, 19% decrease in economic immigrants and 10% decrease in family sponsored immigrants.
According to ACS, Canada marked a population increase of 3.3% on July 1, 2023, a surge not experienced during a 12-month period since 1957. By the end of 2025, Canada’s population rose by a nominal 0.1% as government policies changed in response to the growing anti-immigrant sentiment in the country.
National Post cited a Fraser Institute study to note that between 2000 and 2015, Canada’s immigrant intake increased annually by an average of 4% per year. As policies initiated when Justin Trudeau was Prime Minister took hold, that average spiked to 15% between 2016 and 2024. Trudeau resigned in March 2025 and was replaced by current PM Mark Carney.
