The end of the COVID-19 pandemic had a marked effect on interregional migration in Quebec, which fell by 15.4% between July 1, 2022 and July 1, 2023 compared to the one-year period that preceded, on the same dates.
The Institute of Statistics of Quebec (ISQ) reports in a report published Thursday that this drop put an end to the rebound in interregional migrations which had been fueled in particular by the fact that an increased number of people had left major centers during the COVID-19 crisis.
The number of these migrations between 2022 and 2023 has even reached its lowest level since the data was compiled, in 2001-2002.
In 2022-2023, Montreal lost 25,600 people in its migratory exchanges with other administrative regions. However, in 2020-2021, the region experienced losses of 48,300 people, the heaviest in around twenty years.
In the meantime, the results remained favorable for some regions of Quebec.
That of Lanaudière achieved net gains of 6,100 people, ahead of that of the Laurentians which posted a positive balance of 5,200 people. However, the gains of these two regions have declined since 2020-2021, mainly due to a drop in the number of entrants from other regions.
Estrie benefited from record gains in 2020-2021, but its balance of 3,650 people in 2022-2023 remained one of the highest ever recorded.
The same was true for Mauricie, Centre-du-Québec, Chaudière-Appalaches, Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Bas-Saint-Laurent and Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, which all have their third or fourth largest results since 2001-2002. In all these regions, a trend towards improvement in the interregional migration balance was already observed before the pandemic.
Interregional migratory exchanges generated smaller gains for the Capitale-Nationale and Montérégie in the last year. The results for the Quebec region were higher than they have often been, but those for Montérégie in 2022-2023 were the lowest recorded since the early 2000s.
Laval and Outaouais have recently become among the regions with a deficit in their migratory exchanges, but their net losses were small in 2022-2023. The three other deficit regions are located further from the main urban centers: Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Côte-Nord and Nord-du-Québec, where balances have been negative for many years.
The Institute of Statistics of Quebec adds in its report that the Regional County Municipalities (MRC) where the largest urban centers are located all presented a negative internal migration balance in 2022-2023, with the notable exception of the region from Quebec.