FROM the 2003/2004 to 2023/2024 academic years, the number of full-time international students in public postsecondary institutions in Canada increased eightfold.
It then fell by almost one-third, according to new preliminary estimates now available for the 2024/2025 and 2025/2026 academic years.
These results are from the Statistics Canada study entitled “Feasibility study: Estimating the international student population in Canada using administrative data,” which produced preliminary estimates of the number of full-time international students in public postsecondary institutions and selected characteristics of these students for the 2024/2025 and 2025/2026 academic years.
According to these new estimates, the number of full-time international students in public postsecondary institutions decreased 4% in 2024/2025 and 26% in 2025/2026, bringing their numbers back to levels similar to those recorded in 2021/2022, the second academic year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since 2023/2024, the last year for which official data from Statistics Canada’s Postsecondary Student Information System are available, the number of international students decreased 124,000 (-29%), bringing their numbers back to about 300,000 in total in 2025/2026, which is similar to the level observed in 2021/2022.
In college programs, the decline was moderate in 2024/2025 (-3%) and more pronounced in 2025/2026 (-40%). This represents a 42% decrease since 2023/2024, bringing the number of international students below the level recorded in 2021/2022.
The decrease in university programs (-17%) from 2023/2024 to 2025/2026 was estimated to be almost half as large as that in college programs. Nevertheless, the number of international students dropped to a level below that observed in 2019/2020.
The number of international students at all levels of study at university increased steadily from 2020/2021 to 2023/2024. However, from 2023/2024 to 2025/2026, their numbers are estimated to have dropped 18% each at the bachelor’s level and the master’s level and they declined to a lesser extent at the doctorate level (-11%).
At the regional level, preliminary estimates indicate that Ontario could see the largest decline in the number of full-time international students in public postsecondary institutions, with losses of roughly 15,000 students in 2024/2025 (-6%) and of 92,000 in 2025/2026 (-36%) compared with the 2023/2024 academic year.
In the rest of Canada, the decline in the number of international students from 2023/2024 to 2025/2026 is estimated to be smaller, at 26% in the Atlantic provinces, 14% in Quebec, 17% in the Prairie provinces and 24% in British Columbia.
In 2023/2024, Ontario was home to the most international students in Canada (60%), which represents a larger share than its demographic weight in the Canadian population (39%). In 2025/2026, Ontario’s share of international students had declined to 54%.
In 2025/2026, the share of international students was estimated to be lower than the demographic weight in the provinces of Quebec (15% of international students compared with a demographic weight of 22%), British Columbia (12% compared with 14%) and the Prairies (13% compared with 19%). In addition, the Atlantic provinces’ share of international students reached a level equal to its demographic weight, at 6% in 2025/2026.
New cohorts of international students starting on their academic path in public postsecondary institutions may be affected most by the decreases in the past two academic years.
In colleges, the loss is estimated at 102,188 new students (-75%) compared with 2023/2024, according to preliminary estimates. The decline is smaller for new cohorts in 2025/2026 in university, with estimated losses of 36,740 (-46%) compared with new cohorts in 2023/2024.
As a result, the size of the new cohorts starting their studies in 2025/2026 seems to be similar to the size of college cohorts in 2020/2021 and university cohorts in 2013/2014.
