Fact File: Online posts mislead on immigrant share of population

Recent online posts claimed a chart depicting work and study permit holders in Canada since 2000 showed that the country “imported” 36 per cent of its population — or more than 15 million people — over the past 10 years. 

However, the posts misinterpret the data, which shows the total number of active permit holders in Canada at the end of each year. Permits can be extended or issued for multiple years, and thus the chart doesn’t reflect the number of new permits issued each year.

THE CLAIM

“This official government of Canada chart shows that 15,690,460 (15 million!!!!) people have entered Canada since the Liberals were elected in 2015,” reads a post on the X platform, formerly Twitter, Sunday. 

The user posted a bar chart showing the number of permit holders in Canada from 2000 to 2024 who belong to the International Mobility Program and Temporary Foreign Worker Program, or who hold a study permit.

According to the chart, which bears the watermark for the “Canadian Immigration Statistics” website, the number of permit holders rose from 234,120 in 2000 to 3,125,165 in 2024.

The chart attracted millions of views according to X’s metrics. One user who reposted the chart claimed it showed that Canada “imported” 36.5 per cent of its population in the past 10 years.

X owner and billionaire businessman Elon Musk shared that user’s claim along with the chart on his X page, simply writing “Wow,” in a post with around 72,000 likes.

THE FACTS

The supposedly “official” chart comes from the “Canadian Immigration Statistics” website — a non-government project that states its goal is to make data published by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada more accessible through chart visualizations.

The chart shows the number of Temporary Foreign Worker, International Mobility Program and study permit holders each year between 2000 and 2024, using publicly available IRCC data.

The interpretation of the chart’s numbers is misleading, because while it shows the total number of people in the three categories each year, it doesn’t necessarily mean the permits were issued that year.

For example, study permits are typically issued for the entire period of a person’s study in Canada plus an extra 90 days and certain International Mobility Program streams allow open work permits for up to three years. Work permits can also be extended.

The chart counts the number of permit holders each year, which reflects all active permits. Adding up each year — as was done by the person who posted the chart to come up with the 15 million figure — overstates the number of people entering Canada.

The IRCC’s data sets note they list the number of work permit holders as of Dec. 31 each year and that the total unique count “may not equal to the sum of permit holders in each program as an individual may hold more than one type of permit over a given period.”

DID CANADA BRING IN 36 PER CENT OF ITS POPULATION IN 10 YEARS?

The claim Canada brought in 36.5 per cent of its population from outside the country in the past decade is incorrect. 

An increase of 36 per cent would mean Canada added nearly 15 million people to its population in that time frame — but Statistics Canada data shows this isn’t the case.

The agency estimated Canada’s population at 35,852,000 on July 1, 2015. 

By April 1 of 2025, it estimated, Canada’s population reached 41,548,787 people.

That’s an increase of about 16 per cent, or around 5.7 million people over the past decade.

From the first quarter of 2015 to the last quarter of 2024, Statistics Canada data shows Canada’s net migration was 5,271,606 using the formula immigrants plus net non-permanent residents minus net emigration. That’s significantly less than the 15 million claimed in the X posts.

Statistics Canada noted in 2015 that international migration represented about 61 per cent of Canada’s population growth that year. 

International migration accounted for all of Canada’s population growth during the first quarter of 2025, the agency said, because there were more deaths than births in the country, reflecting the country’s aging population, decreasing fertility rate and the higher number of deaths that occur during the winter.

Canada saw a large increase in non-permanent residents, including foreign workers and international students, in recent years.

The number of temporary foreign workers increased from 356,000 in 2011 to 845,000 in 2021. Study permit holders accounted for 46 per cent of the increase, while International Mobility Program accounted for 47 per cent. 

Critics, including Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and B.C. Premier David Eby have called for the end of Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program, arguing it exploits workers and keeps Canada’s youth out of the workforce.  

In October, the federal government introduced measures to reduce the number of temporary residents to five per cent of the total population by the end of 2026 and announced a study permit cap for international students. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2025.