How Many Motorcycles Are There in Canada? Registrations by Province, 2017–2025

Canada’s motorcycles and mopeds count, 2017–2025

The registered total increased over the period, but it did not rise every year. It reached 819,418 in 2021 and fell to 809,949 in 2022 before reaching 884,165 in 2025. Administrative changes are part of the context; this series is not a retail-sales timeline.

Excluding Ontario, motorcycles and mopeds registrations rose from 506,702 in 2017 to 624,176 in 2025, an increase of 23.2%. That establishes an increase outside Ontario too; it does not isolate the reasons for the change.

Motorcycles and mopeds by province and territory

The table is ordered by the 2025 registered count. Counts, changes and national shares use the motorcycles and mopeds category. Per-resident figures divide registrations by the July 2025 population estimate and multiply by 1,000; the national population denominator is 41,608,982. Different provincial registration systems limit comparisons.

Quebec and Ontario together account for 61.5% of the national total. Quebec added 67,048 motorcycles and mopeds registrations between 2017 and 2025, accounting for 43.7% of the national net increase.

Where are registrations highest per resident?

Among the provinces and territories in this table, Quebec has the highest motorcycles and mopeds registrations per 1,000 residents at 31.4, followed by Prince Edward Island at 30.4 and Yukon at 30.1. Alberta is at 29.3. Ontario is at 16.0 and British Columbia at 14.8. These are vehicle registrations per resident, not the share of people who ride, and they do not measure riding frequency.

Are recent registrations getting smaller in Quebec?

The Quebec SAAQ data offer a separate engine-size view: the PMC subset for private leisure use, with known displacement. For each edition, the comparison takes the latest five model years, from 2013–2017 in the 2017 edition to 2018–2022 in the 2022 edition. Comparing the same model-year window length reduces the older-vehicle survival bias of a single fleet snapshot.

The share above 1400 cc fell from 28.5% to 22.5%, while the 251–500 cc share rose from 8.2% to 10.6%. The share at 1001 cc and above moved from 52.2% to 48.4%, with fluctuations between editions. This is a modest change in the composition of recent registered vehicles in Quebec, not a national sales trend or proof of buyer preferences.

As a secondary view, in the 2022 edition, the 1001 cc-and-above share was 64.6% among 2003–2007 model years and 48.4% among 2018–2022 model years. Older vehicles that remain registered are a selected group, so that comparison has survival bias. Across the whole PMC fleet, the 251–800 cc share stayed between 23.6% and 23.9% over the 2017–2022 editions: recent registrations can change while the wider fleet changes slowly.

Where a mid-size cruiser fits

The displacement bands provide context for comparing engine sizes, without assigning any brand a registration count. For a model comparison, read our cruiser comparison. For a first purchase, start with the beginner cruiser guide. Our guide to brands covers a different question using provincial brand data.

How to read these numbers

Statistics Canada combines motorcycles and mopeds, across all fuel types, as active registrations. Off-road vehicles and snowmobiles are excluded from this road-vehicle series. Registrations measure a fleet, not vehicles sold during the year, and regional registration rules differ.

Ontario removed renewal stickers in 2022 and introduced automatic renewals in July 2024. Statistics Canada describes changes to active counts and a partial-year effect when automatic renewals began. We do not interpret Ontario’s annual changes as demand growth, or draw a conclusion from Saskatchewan’s low per-resident figure.

The engine-size analysis is limited to Quebec and ends with the 2022 edition. Its PMC subset covers private leisure use, excludes mopeds and includes three-wheeled vehicles; records without displacement are excluded from engine-size shares. It does not cover all Quebec registration categories. The national motorcycles and mopeds category and this subset have different coverage, so their totals must not be combined. Matching model-year windows reduces survival bias but does not turn registration snapshots into sales data.