While the number of new permanent residents in Canada declined by an eighth in the first five months of this year from the same period in 2025, Indians alone account for nearly 60% of the decrease.
According to the latest for permanent resident (PR) admissions released by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), the total between January and May last year was 168,800, and that reduced to 147,260 this year or just over 12.5%.
Indians as a country cohort comprised the bulk of that fall, going down from 49,115 to 36,910 or by nearly a quarter.
The overall decline for the five-month stretch was 21,540 and Indians made for over 57% of the reduction.
“When the government sharply reduces a stream in which one country is disproportionately represented, that country inevitably absorbs a disproportionate share of the cut,” Jack Jedwab, president of the Association for Canadian Studies, told the outlet National Post, though his comments were related to a similar trend detected in the first quarter of this year. In that period, Indians comprised 48% of the total decline and that trend has strengthened in the following pair of months.
Jedwab added, “Canada has moved from rapid immigration expansion to a deliberate, government-driven contraction.”
IRCC has said it is “committed to returning immigration to sustainable levels, stabilising the number of new permanent residents each year to less than 1%” of the country’s total population beyond 2027 with a focus on giving PR “to people already living in, working in, and contributing” to Canada.
According to IRCC data, there were 393,530 new permanent immigrants to Canada in 2025 compared to 483,655 in 2024, marking a 19% reduction in their numbers. Much of the decrease was also driven by the decline in immigrants from India seeking permanent residency in Canada, with their numbers going down from 127,375 to 98,770. The number of Indian permanent residents admitted to Canada rose sharply from just 42,875 in 2020 to a peak of 139,790 in 2023.