PEI Population Report Quarterly

Population Report, Fourth Quarter 2025

DIAGRAM 1: PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND POPULATION, QUARTERLY, 2022 - 2026

On March 18, 2026 Statistics Canada published its provincial population estimates for the fourth quarter of 2025. The data shows Prince Edward Island’s population was estimated to be 182,001 as of January 1, 2026. This represents a yearly increase of 1,315 people or a 0.7 percent annual growth rate. This is the second highest year-over-year growth rate among provinces and territories, behind Alberta at 1.2 percent. Nunavut also had a growth rate of 0.7 percent. PEI’s year-over-year population growth has slowed in each of the past eight quarters, after reaching an all-time high of 4.3 percent during the third quarter of 2023.

Canada’s population was 41.5 million as of January 1, 2026, a decrease of 0.2 percent from one year ago.

The quarterly estimates since October 1, 2023 and growth rates for Canada and Prince Edward Island can be seen in Table 1. 

TABLE 1: NATIONAL AND PROVINCIAL POPULATION & GROWTH RATES, QUARTERLY

Five jurisdictions saw a year-over-year decline in population for January 1, 2026 as compared to January 1, 2025. Population estimates for January 1, 2025 and 2026, including growth rates and level of change, for all provinces and territories are shown in Table 2 below.

TABLE 2: POPULATION OF PROVINCES & TERRITORIES, JANUARY 1, 2025, 2026 & ANNUAL GROWTH RATES

Components of Growth

The total change in PEI’s population during the fourth quarter of 2025 was -507 people.

Natural Increase

There were 312 births and 462 deaths on Prince Edward Island during the fourth quarter of 2025, resulting in natural growth (births minus deaths) of -150. This is the most that deaths have outnumbered births in one quarter on record (since 1946).

International Migration

During the fourth quarter of 2025, a total of 416 international immigrants came to the province, the least since the fourth quarter of 2022. At a rate of 2.3 per thousand , the province had the fifth highest quarterly immigration rate in the country. The immigration rate for Canada was 2.0 per thousand.

Net international migration was estimated to be -286 people during the fourth quarter of 2025. This consisted of the aforementioned 416 international immigrants plus 325 non-permanent residents (NPRs) and 23 returning Canadians entering the province, while 1,001 NPRs and 49 international emigrants left the province. Net international migration for PEI over the 2025 calendar year was -53. This compares to +3,681 in 2024.

It was estimated that 325 non-permanent residents came to PEI during the fourth quarter of 2025, while 1,001 NPRs left the province, for a net change of -676. As of January 1, 2026, there were 10,368 NPRs on PEI, a drop of 17.2 percent as compared to January 1, 2025. This represents 5.7 percent of PEI’s total population. In March 2024, the federal government announced a target to reduce the non-permanent resident population of Canada to less than 5 percent by the end of 2027.

Total NPRs consisted of 5,962 work permit holders, 3,170 study permit holders, 719 with both work and study permits, 360 other permit holders, and 157 asylum claimants. NPRs include foreign workers, foreign students, the humanitarian population and other temporary residents. The humanitarian population includes refugee claimants and temporary residents who are allowed to remain in Canada on humanitarian grounds and are not categorized as either foreign workers or foreign students.

Inter-provincial Migration

A total of 574 inter-provincial migrants came to PEI during the fourth quarter of 2025, while 645 people left the province for other areas of Canada, for a net interprovincial loss of 71. This compares to a net loss of 181 people over the same period in 2024. As shown in Table 3, the primary source of PEI’s inter-provincial in-migrants during this period was from Ontario, followed by British Columbia and Nova Scotia. The main destinations of out-migrants from Prince Edward Island were Ontario, Nova Scotia, and Alberta. Alberta gained the most from inter-provincial migration, with 30.6 percent of all interprovincial migrants from other provinces destined for Alberta.

TABLE 3: ORIGIN & DESTINATION OF INTER-PROVINCIAL MIGRANTS, OCTOBER 1, 2025 TO JANUARY 1, 2026

Prince Edward Island quarterly components of growth from July 1, 2023 to January 1, 2026 can be seen in table 4. 

TABLE 4: PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND QUARTERLY POPULATION AND COMPONENTS OF GROWTH JULY 1 2023 – JANUARY 1 2026

DIAGRAM 2: PEI COMPONENTS OF GROWTH OCTOBER 1 2025 – JANUARY 1 2026

Related downloads for this release:

PEI Population Report Quarterly PDF (179KB)

Notes:

These are preliminary data that will be revised over the coming year.

These estimates are based on 2021 Census of Population counts, adjusted for census net undercoverage and incompletely enumerated Indian reserves. To these counts, the population growth estimates for the period from May 11, 2021, to the date of the estimate are added.

1 Immigration rates are calculated by the PEI Statistics Bureau based on Statistics Canada population estimates.

Source: Statistics Canada

Table 17-10-0009-01, Estimates of population, Canada, provinces and territories, quarterly

Table 17-10-0040-01, International migration components, Canada, provinces and territories, quarterly

Table 17-10-0020-01, Interprovincial migrants, Canada, provinces and territories, quarterly

Table 17-10-0045-01, Estimates of interprovincial migrants by province or territory of origin and destination, quarterly

Table 17-10-0059-01, Estimates of the components of natural increase, Canada, provinces and territories, quarterly

Table 17-10-0121-01, Estimates of the number of non-permanent residents by type, quarterly

Prepared by PEI Statistics Bureau