Where Our Students Are Educated: Measuring Student Enrolment in Canada, 2026

Where Our Students Are Educated: Measuring Student Enrolment in Canada, 2026

• From 2000–01 to 2023–24, every province outside of Atlantic Canada recorded an increase in its school-aged population, with Alberta having the strongest growth at 38.3 percent.
• In some provinces, the increase in Canada’s school-aged population is a relatively recent phenomenon. Beginning in 2021–22, the total number of immigrants to Canada from other countries more than doubled; many of those arriving were school-aged children.
• Education in public schools is the dominant form of education in all 10 provinces. Education in public schools can take a variety of forms depending on the province, including Anglophone public, Francophone public, Anglophone separate (largely Roman Catholic education), Francophone separate (again largely Roman Catholic), and charter schools.
• In 2023–24, Nova Scotia had the highest share of enrolment in public schools at 98.6 percent of total enrolment; British Columbia had the lowest level at 86.2 percent.
• From 2000–01 to 2023–24, the share of students receiving their education from public schools declined in every province.
• Alberta is the only Canadian province that allows charter schools. Although those schools enroll a modest number of students as a share of total enrolment (1.6 percent), absolute enrolment has increased from 2,558 in 2000–01 to 12,780 in 2023–24.
• In every province the nominal number of students enrolled in independent schools grew between 2000–01 and 2023–24. In addition, the share of total enrolment for independent schools grew in all provinces.
• Home schooling remains a relatively small but growing part of the overall education system.