Waterloo Region’s population growth stalls after international student decline: report

After years of explosive growth, CTV’s Spencer Turcotte takes a look at a new report showing Waterloo Region’s population boom may be slowing.

The Region of Waterloo’s years-long population boom has slowed dramatically, according to a new report that showed the number of residents grew by just 90 people in 2025.

The document, which will be presented to the region’s Sustainability, Infrastructure and Development Committee next week, estimates the population reached 678,270 by the end of 2025 — an increase of just 0.01 per cent.

The report described it as a “dramatic shift” from record-breaking growth between 2021 and 2023.

“We’re still growing. It’s just the composition of our population is changing,” said Ryan Pogrzeba, Waterloo Region’s manager of growth management and data analytics.

According to the reports, “this stagnation is largely driven by a net decline of 9,070 students following federal caps on international study visas.”

The federal government introduced limits on new international study permits in 2024, leading to a decline in enrolment at Waterloo Region’s three post-secondary institutions: Conestoga College, the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University.

The report said Waterloo Region is still feeling those effects more sharply than many other communities because of its large student population.

“We didn’t expect [it], had you asked us 10 years ago, to see the influx of students that we did have,” Pogrzeba said. “This is somewhat a correction of that.”

As of November 2025, there were 73,800 full-time post-secondary students enrolled at local schools. Regional estimates suggest more than 61,000 of them also live within Waterloo Region.

Pogrzeba believes the shift could ease some of the housing pressures that emerged during the recent student population boom.

“We had a lot of stories about students living in very precarious situations that I think is going to decrease over the next few years, as we see that student population level out a bit more,” he said.

The recent slowdown follows several years of rapid growth. Waterloo Region added nearly 28,500 residents in 2023 alone, representing an increase of 4.41 per cent.

Even though population growth slowed significantly in 2025, the region estimates 3,720 new households were added. Kitchener accounted for the largest increase with approximately 3,000 new households.

Joseph Puopolo, co-chair of Build Urban, said Waterloo Region still needs to remain attractive to residents and businesses amid the slowdown.

“We have to continue to invest back into our culture because those are the things that keep people,” he explained. “Employment drives people there, but what keeps people is our culture and activities for them to do with their family.”

Planners for the region said changing demographics are also reshaping the community.

The report highlights a rise in multi-generational housing, driven partly by affordability pressures and newcomer populations. It also noted more residents 55 years and older are moving into newly-built apartments and leaving larger detached homes for younger families.

Officials said they expect the population trend, tied to international enrolments, to continue over the next two to three years as the students graduate and fewer newcomers replace them.

The region, meantime, plans to use the data from the upcoming 2026 census to recalibrate its population and housing models in light of what staff described as significant demographic and socio-economic changes since 2021.

Waterloo Region still expects to support a population of one million residents by 2051.

For Puopolo, the slowdown also serves as a warning for a community dealing with water capacity concerns.

“If this crisis were to occur, this is probably the most ideal time for it to occur due to various different market conditions and also immigration. That said, this should be a wake-up call.”