Immigration to Nova Scotia, Canada | Annual Arrivals and Census Trends
In 2025, Nova Scotia was the destination for 9,175 new permanent residents.
Source: IRCC
- In 2025, 393,530 new permanent residents were admitted to Canada, 2.3% of them landed in Nova Scotia.
- From 2020 to 2025, Nova Scotia was the chosen destination for 60,595 new immigrants (permanent residents).
- The immigration data highlights a growing trend pre-pandemic levels, a sharp decline in 2020, a strong rebound leading up to 2024, and a decline by 2025.
Immigration to Nova Scotia by Class
Economic Class immigrants led Nova Scotia’s 2025 permanent resident admissions at 76%, followed by the Family Class (12.9%) and Refugees (10.1%).
Source: IRCC
- From 2016 to 2025, Nova Scotia admitted a total of 65,300 economic immigrants, 8,860 family immigrants, and 9,580 refugees.
- Except for the refugee stream, economic and family immigration expanded between 2016 and 2019. After a pandemic-driven downturn in 2020, this upward trend persisted through 2024, culminating in a contraction across all admissions classes in 2025.
- Compared to 2024 levels, 2025 immigration admissions fell most sharply in the economic category (40.2%), followed by a contraction in the refugee class (26.5%), and the family class decreased by 3.7%.
