Quebec reports record low fertility and near-record rate of immigration in 2024 [Video]

Despite a downward trend, Quebec still reported nearly record-high population growth last year due to immigration, even as the province’s fertility rate reached its lowest level on record.

Non-permanent residents – including temporary foreign workers, international students and asylum seekers – were responsible for much of the province’s population growth in 2024, according to a new report from Quebec’s statistics agency.

Quebec’s total population increased by about 155,000 in 2024, due entirely to immigration, and reached about 9.1 million in January 2025. That’s down from the record growth of nearly 200,000 people in 2023, but is otherwise the highest increase on record, even as deaths outnumbered births in the province for the first time.

Premier François Legault has made reducing temporary immigration one of his top priorities, and has called on the federal government to halve the number of non-permanent residents in the province. He claims temporary immigrants are putting …