The report titled “Portrait of Immigration to Canada” was released recently by Statistics Canada.
Key findings
- The Statistics Canada recently released the 2021 census, which includes the latest statistical portrait of immigration and ethno-cultural diversity in the country.
- This is the largest update of Canada’s immigrant population since the release of Census 2016 in October 2017.
- According to the report “Portrait of Immigration to Canada”, about 23 per cent of the population in the country is or has been landed immigrant or permanent resident.
- This is the largest share of immigrants since the country was founded in 1867.
- As of 2021, the country hosted 8.3 million immigrants.
- This figure is expected to surge by 34 per cent in 2041.
- The growth of immigrant population is attributed to the increasing targets of the Canada’s Immigration Levels Plan.
- Currently, Canada is looking to welcome 432,000 new immigrants by the end of 2022 and over 450,000 by the end of 2024.
- The government is increasing immigration targets mainly because of the country’s labour shortage. Nearly a quarter of the population will age out of workforce by the end of this decade.
- Over 1.3 million new permanent residents have settled in Canada in the last five years. Of these 50 per cent arrived under economic class.
- Some 3.6 per cent of these immigrants lived in Canada as work or study permit holders or asylum claimants before gaining permanent residence.
- Some 62 per cent of the new immigrants were born in Asia, making it the top source for immigrants in Canada.
- Over 18.6 per cent of the immigrant population came from India. This is the first time that India topped in the number of immigrants in Canada.
- The last time Canada had such high percentage of immigrants from a single country was recorded in 1971 census, when 20.9 per cent of the immigrants came from United Kingdom.
- Currently, Europeans account for only one in ten new immigrants in Canada.