Temporary immigration slowdown slows Quebec’s population growth

People arrive at a treatment centre at the Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle border crossing on Thursday, April 10, 2025. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press)

The tightening of temporary immigration quickly showed up in Quebec’s demographic report.

The Institut de la statistique du Québec (ISQ) said Wednesday that Quebec’s population continued to grow in 2024-2025, but at half the pace of the previous year.

At the provincial level, the population growth rate fell from 2 per cent in 2023-2024 to 0.7 per cent in 2024-2025.

In its demographic report for the year ending July 1, 2025, the ISQ noted that “after several years of strong increases, temporary immigration — mainly temporary foreign workers, international students and asylum seekers — declined in 2024-2025.”

While the number of temporary immigrants continued to rise in most regions, the increase was far smaller than in 2023-2024, which contributed significantly to the slowdown in population growth.

Major drop in Montreal

Because the decline in temporary immigration is the main factor in the population slowdown, it is not surprising that Montreal experienced the largest drop, far ahead of other regions. Growth there collapsed from 3.4 per cent in 2023-2024 to 0.3 per cent in 2024-2025.

Significant decreases were also observed in the Quebec City and Laval regions.

At the other end of the spectrum, Lanaudière saw the smallest slowdown, with population growth falling slightly from 1.7 per cent to 1.6 per cent over the same period. Only the Côte-Nord and Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine regions recorded population declines, at 0.2 per cent in both cases.

Notably, an increase in permanent immigration helped offset the drop in temporary immigration in most regions, except Montreal, Laval, Montérégie, Outaouais and Nord-du-Québec, where permanent immigration also fell.

The data also show the regionalization of immigration: 45 per cent of new permanent residents in 2024-2025 lived in Montreal, compared with 75 per cent 20 years ago.

More deaths than births

Immigration remains the main driver of population growth, since deaths outnumber births in most regions. In other words, without immigration, Quebec’s population would be shrinking in nearly every region.

The Nord-du-Québec region is the only one where population growth is mainly driven by births exceeding deaths. Montreal, Laval, Montérégie and Outaouais also recorded more births than deaths in 2024-2025, but the surplus was very small and had little impact on overall 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 Nord-du-Québec lost residents to other regions, while Lanaudière, Laurentides, Chaudière-Appalaches and Centre-du-Québec recorded the largest population gains from interregional migration.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Jan. 14, 2026.

By Pierre Saint-Arnaud, The Canadian Press