Canada Is Losing Its People Again: More Than 112,000 People Left in One Year

For decades, Canada built much of its international image around a powerful idea: it was one of those countries people wanted to move to. Stability, security, career opportunities, good public services, and a quality of life that made even its long winters worth enduring.

But there is another trend moving in the opposite direction that deserves attention. These are not people trying to enter Canada. They are citizens and permanent residents who are packing their bags to leave.

The latest data from Statistics Canada show that 112,116 people emigrated from Canada during the 12 months ending in the second quarter of 2026. It is one of the highest annual emigration figures recorded in the country's historical data series.

This isn't just a one-time spike in a single quarter. The figure has been hovering at exceptionally high levels for several years.

Nearly 25,000 left in just three months

Between April and June 2026, Statistics Canada estimated 24,926 emigrants, slightly above the 24,662 recorded during the same quarter of 2025.

The historical comparison is even more striking. According to an analysis of official data conducted by Better Dwelling, only a few quarters since the 1950s have recorded higher figures. But looking only at how many people leave tells only part of the story. It’s also important to know how many return. And that’s where another significant statistic comes into play.

More people are leaving than returning

After subtracting the number of people who had emigrated and later returned to the country, net emigration totaled 12,889 people in the second quarter of 2026 alone.

In the 12 months ending in that quarter, the cumulative balance reached approximately 61,829 more people leaving than returning.

To find higher figures, one has to go back to 1997, during the period associated with the so-called brain drainCanadian, at a time when many professionals moved primarily to the United States, drawn by better job opportunities and the expansion of the technology sector.

Nearly three decades later, Canada is once again seeing figures reminiscent of that period. The difference is that this time, the trend is emerging after several consecutive years of rising outbound travel.

Why are they leaving?

Emigration statistics show how many people leave the country, but they do not allow us to conclude that all 112,116 people left for the same reason. It would be incorrect to do so. However, the Canadian economic context offers some clues about the pressures that may influence a decision as significant as leaving the country.

Housing inevitably takes center stage. Statistics Canada iHe recently reported that In 2024, 23.2% of Canadian households lived in homes considered unaffordable, that is, they spent at least 30% of their income on housing expenses. Among renters, the proportion reached 33.7%.

For many young people, buying a home in Toronto, Vancouver, and other major cities has ceased to seem like a natural stage of adulthood and has instead become an increasingly distant goal. And renting doesn't necessarily offer any relief either.

Working harder doesn't always mean moving forward

The problem doesn't end with housing. The very Bank of Canada It recently acknowledged that many households continue to feel the strain on their budgets from prices that have risen since the pandemic began. The impact has not been uniform either: young and lower-income households have faced considerably greater pressure than other groups.

The labor market offers another piece of the puzzle. Although the national unemployment rate stood at 6.5% in June 2026, Statistics Canada noted that working conditions for young people remain more difficult than they were before the pandemic. Even after improving during the spring, unemployment among people aged 15 to 24 remained above its pre-pandemic average.

Canada remains a developed economy, with strong institutions and high standards of living compared to much of the world. But that reality can coexist with another: for certain workers and families, the balance between wages, housing, taxes, career opportunities, and the day-to-day cost of living in the country may be becoming less and less attractive.

The Return of the “Brain Drain”

There is also an issue that goes far beyond the absolute number of people. Not all immigrants have the same economic impact.

When a country loses young workers, specialized professionals, entrepreneurs, or highly mobile individuals who can market their skills in any international market, it also loses part of the investment made over the years in their training and experience.

Better Dwelling argues that this factor is particularly worrisome in the current wave of emigration and compares the situation to the brain drain of the late 1990s.

That interpretation must be distinguished from the official data: Statistics Canada tracks migration patterns; it does not assert that every person who leaves Canada is a highly skilled professional, nor does it conclude that the country is officially experiencing a new “brain drain.” But the historical comparison is hard to ignore.

The net emigration rate is once again approaching levels not seen in Canada since that time.

A country that needs immigrants while others are leaving

There is also an apparent paradox. For years, Canada has relied on immigration to sustain its population growth and expand its workforce. At the same time, a historically high number of citizens and permanent residents are leaving the country.

These are different phenomena and should not be confused. Canada can continue to accept immigrants while simultaneously experiencing high emigration among people who already lived here.

But from an economic standpoint, there is an important issue: attracting people does not automatically solve the problem of retaining them.

A country can be extraordinarily attractive when viewed from the outside and, at the same time, be losing its appeal for some of those who already know firsthand how much it costs to live, work, raise a family, and build wealth there.

112,116 individual decisions

Behind the statistics lies something that no graph can fully explain.

Each of those 112,116 departures represents a decision.

Some may have left for work. Others for family, retirement, education, climate, business opportunities, or simply because they wanted to live somewhere else. Still others probably weighed their options and concluded that they could build a better life outside of Canada. There is no single explanation. But when tens of thousands of individual decisions begin to move in the same direction, the number ceases to be a mere demographic curiosity.

Canada continues to welcome people who want to start a new life here. The other story—one that is told far less often—is that more and more of those who were already here are choosing to start their new lives elsewhere.