Canadians Moving Abroad Hits A New Record As The Country Fails to Compete

Canadians aren’t just sending money abroad—they’re sending themselves. Statistics Canada (StatCan) data shows emigration climbed again in Q2 2025, setting a record for Canadians permanently leaving over a 12-month period. The steady climb underscores Canada’s failure to compete, as more talent and capital head for greener pastures. 

Emigration and Why You Should Care

Emigration is when a Canadian leaves permanently. People leave for many reasons, but rising and persistent outflows are a red flag signaling a lack of opportunity. At its core, this is about Canada failing to compete globally. The first to leave are usually prime-age, skilled workers with resources to make the move—the people Canada can’t afford to lose. Those with fewer skills rarely have the resources to move, even if they really want to. 

Policymakers tend to shrug this off, focusing on net population gains. One lost human capital tax unit isn’t a problem if we can attract two more, right? Unfortunately, it’s clear to any non-psychopath that swapping one skilled worker for two retirees, or an outgoing doctor for five students, isn’t an equal trade. The logic they’re embracing is more fitting for a pump-and-dump stock market scam than governance.  

Emigration is also undercounted. Most people don’t notify the government of their permanent relocation—or pay the final tax bill on assets deemed disposed when they leave. Their absence may have just been a really long vacation, right? Before 2025, Canada tracked border inflows but not outflows, making it impossible to know how many people left for good.  

Bonus fun fact: We previously estimated—and StatCan later confirmed—that this same methodology gap led to immigration being overstated for decades, inflating long-term inflows by about 1 in 7 people. That may partially explain why housing experts argue Canada has always underbuilt housing, but it didn’t feel like that until immigration was used to manufacture a shortage post-pandemic.

Onto that data.

Canadians Are Leaving For Other Countries In Record Volumes

Emigration: Canadians permanently relocating to another country, 12-month rolling sum. 

Source: StatCan; Better Dwelling. 

More Canadians are putting their elbows up… at airport security, as they leave for good. Emigration out of Canada reached 24,714 in Q2 2025, rising 3% from the same quarter last year. Q2 volumes have increased 26.1% since 2019, marking a general theme that saw volumes accelerate starting in 2017, taking a pandemic break, and then remaining elevated from 2022 and beyond.  

The longer trend highlights just how problematic this situation has become in recent years. There were 120,016 emigrants in the 12 months ending Q2 2025, up 3% compared to last year. For context, that’s roughly equivalent to the whole population of Brantford, ON. Steady and consistent growth has pushed Canadian emigration to a record high. 

Canada’s rising emigration underscores a bigger problem: the country’s inability to compete globally. The national mantra is “the world wants Canada,” and that’s true, but Canada doesn’t seem to want Canadians. The country is seeing record capital flight, falling business investment, and Canadian entrepreneurs creating their companies—and jobs—abroad. These problems are getting some much-needed attention, but they’re presented as sudden issues. In reality, these trends are the predictable outcome of nearly a decade of rising talent outflow.