Waterloo Region sees smallest population increase in decades

CTV’s Spencer Turcotte takes a look at a major drop in population growth, and learns what may be behind the change.

Waterloo Region has seen a significant drop in a short amount of time when it comes to population growth.

According to the latest data from Statistics Canada, the population slowed almost to a halt from July 2024 to July 2025, following a three-year surge.

Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge saw 2,166 new residents arrive in the area. That brought the total population to 701,568, making it the smallest increase in decades. It put the tri-cities near the bottom for population growth among the country’s biggest urban areas.

“It’s not a big surprise actually because of the changes at the federal level,” said Kevin Eby, former director of community planning for the Region of Waterloo.

He said this was expected given the cap on international students, with Conestoga College seeing its enrolment drop by the thousands, and the tightening of rules for foreign workers.

Eby added we may see this trend extend for a few years.

“[However], it’s a bit more of a temporary blip than anything when you understand that these things happen on a regular basis. It’s not something to panic about by any means,” said Eby.

On the plus side, Eby said this drop has eased the pressure on the housing market at a time when the region is also grappling with a water capacity concern that has temporarily paused development in Kitchener and Waterloo.

But what does this mean for businesses?

“My sense is that’s not felt in an immediate way. I think it’s more in the planning moving forward. But again, that’s why we’ve got to look at this in a broader sweep,” said Ian McLean, CEO of the Greater Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber of Commerce.

Looking at it with the long-term lens, McLean suggests this drop shouldn’t hinder businesses too much.

“This is where people want to come and live, and work, and grow their business and invest. And I don’t see that changing anytime soon,” said McLean.

As for how this plays into the projection of one million residents in the region by the year 2051, perspectives vary.

“I think that that was an incredibly optimistic forecast to begin with. I’m not sure it was ever actually attainable,” said Eby.

McLean said regardless of whether that number is met, work needs to be done.

“Whether we’re one million people by 2051 or 900,000, we still need a new hospital. We need tens of thousands of new homes. We need infrastructure like Highway 7 and we need 50,000, 60,000, 100,000 new jobs,” said McLean.

And while this drop may not be cause for concern, it is still far off from 2023 when the region welcomed more than 36,000 new residents.