In 2023, the number of non-permanent residents in Canada increased by more than half a million people, part of the largest single-year rise in at least five decades of available data.

In a report last week, Statistics Canada (StatCan) counted a total of 2.5 million NPRs as of last October, up from 1.7 million at the same time last year. Growth in 2023 shattered previous records in available data, tripling the increase of about 170,000 between the summer of 2018 and 2019.

Data showed that the total NPR increased by slightly more than 80 percent since the fourth quarter of 2021.

In an email statement, StatCan told CTVNews.ca that 2023 NPR growth can be partially attributed to relaxed travel restrictions due to COVID-19 and increased work and study permits processed by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

StatCan also updated its methodology to estimate NPR population data this year; the agency explained this change had, in 2021/22, an impact of nearly five percent on the estimated growth in NPR totals (196,000, compared to an estimate of 205,000 under the older protocol).

StatCan said in a statement issued Wednesday: "This is our usual practice, especially after a census, as updating our methods enables us to remain relevant." "The effect of these adjustments on the overall size of the Canadian population is very minimal."

Meanwhile, Geoffrey Ritz, an emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Toronto, said the federal government's embrace of increasing immigration has for many years reflected economic interests.

"When the Liberal government came to power in 2016, it appointed a committee to evaluate different ways to improve the growth of the Canadian economy. Members of this committee were mostly business people but also academic economists, and they all recommended a significant increase in immigration numbers," he said in an interview with CTVNews.ca.

"The government largely did what business leaders asked for."

A report released in June by the National Bank of Canada described national interest rates as "increasingly central" to the country's "ongoing population boom"; OECD data showed Canada leads the G7 in population growth, averaging nearly 1.2 percent annually since 2014.

In the last quarter, 96 percent of local population growth in Canada came from permanent or non-permanent immigration, according to StatCan.

The National Bank report said: "Few major advanced countries (if any) can match what is happening in Canada." "Permanent immigrants have long represented an important inflow. But on the margin, (NPRs) are now front and center."

Significant growth in work and study permits...

StatCan’s review of the 2021 census data published this summer found that compared to the rest of the Canadian population, including permanent immigrants, the average non-resident population was much younger, more educated, and more likely to participate in the labor force.

Among countries of origin, the top source countries include India (28.5 percent), China (10.5 percent), France (5.1 percent), and the Philippines (3.6 percent).