In mid-December, Statistics Canada released the results of the 2021 census, which includes the latest statistics on immigration and ethnocultural diversity in Canada. Since 2006, Statistics Canada has released census data on Canada’s immigrant population every ten years, and the 2016 Census data is the most recent update.
Statistic Canada, the federal agency that conducts surveys, gathers, and analyzes data about Canadians, requires every household to fill out a census form every five years.
It is the government’s and the general public’s responsibility to gather demographic, social, and economic data on people and housing units in Canada. Individuals’ ethnicity, home size, language skills, education level, and income can be considered. The government can better devote funds to pertinent initiatives by better understanding the requirements of Canadians and permanent residents in Canada.
The information made public today reveals the daily lives of immigrants in Canada.
Foreign-born Canadians are becoming more prevalent
23% of Canadians are or were landed immigrants or permanent residents, according to the report released today. Canada’s population has been dominated by immigrants since its founding in 1867.
The Census Bureau estimates that there were 8.3 million immigrants living in the nation as of 2021. It is estimated that by 2041, 34% of Canadians will be immigrants.
Increasing immigration levels are the result of Canada’s Immigration Levels Plan. It is estimated that just over 1.3 million new permanent residents will have moved to Canada between 2016 and 2021. Nearly half of these most recent immigrants are from the economic class, with 748,120 coming from that class.
Over one-third of these immigrants spent time in Canada applying for work permits, study visas, and asylum as temporary residents.
According to the Canadian Government, 300,000 new permanent residents are expected to be added in 2016. One-third of these immigrants live in Canada while they apply for work permits, study visas, or asylum for more than 36.6% of these immigrants.
Canada’s 2016 immigration plan, aims to add 300,000 new permanent residents. It is expected that 432,000 immigrants will arrive by 2022; by 2024, that number will rise to over 450,000. Upon releasing the updated Immigration Levels Plan 2023-2025 next week, there is a good chance these targets will remain the same or even increase.
Canadian immigration goals have risen during the past five years as a result of the labor shortage in the country. By 2030, there will be nearly a quarter of a billion people without jobs worldwide. It is made worse by Canada’s low fertility rates and the steady increase in deaths.
A labor shortage in Canada is lessened since recent immigrants have a younger age structure than the overall population. Canada’s labor force grew by nearly 80% between 2016 and 2021 due to immigrants.
Asia is at the top
Canada’s immigration history has been dominated by European immigrants for much of its history. however, over the last 50 years, Asia has become an increasingly important region for new immigrants.
It is estimated that Asia will continue to be the largest source of immigration to Canada between 2021 and 2025. African immigrants have grown in number recently, too, similar to that.
About 62% of the most recent immigrants to Canada were born in Asia, of whom 18.6% came from India alone. The Philippines, with 11.4% of new arrivals, came in second with 8.9%. For the first time, India topped all new arrivals in 2018.
Canada had the second-highest proportion of immigrants from one nation in 1971, with 20.9% born in the United Kingdom. New immigrant from Europe makes up just one out of ten at present.
The majority of new immigrants are between the ages of 18 and 34
It is the most common age to retire in Canada, with more than one in five approaching retirement. By bringing younger workers into the country, immigration can boost the economy though it will not reverse the aging trend in Canada.
The number of young immigrants entering Canada between 2016 and 2021 was 10.9%. Most are 25 to 54 years old, or core-aged. New entrants under 15 constituted 17.1% of all new entrants.
As of 2021, 31.5% of Canadian children under 15 with at least one immigrant parent are second-generation Canadians.
Canada now has a greater number of immigrant workers than it did before the epidemic. Immigrants’ employment rates have increased by two percentage points since 2016, whereas Canadian-born individuals’ employment rates have decreased by the same amount.
Immigrants settling outside of Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver
According to the census metropolitan areas (CMAs), are large metropolitan areas with more than 100,000 residents. As well as 92.2% of recent immigrants lived in one CMA in 2021. More Canadians than 67.7% were born here. Several factors might have contributed to the high proportion of immigrants in CMAs, including well-established immigrant communities, like Toronto, which consists of 46.6% immigrants.
Canada’s three largest cities with the greatest number of recent immigrants have continued to be Toronto (29.5%), Montreal (12.2%), and Vancouver (11.7%). Additionally, from 56% in 2021 to 53.4% in 2021, fewer people are choosing to live in these three cities.
Montreal saw the largest decline in 2021, from 14.8% to 12.2%.
In some CMAs, new residents have increased. Canada’s national capital region, Ottawa-Gatineau, saw a 3.1% increase in recent immigrants from 2016 to 2021. Recent immigrants have increased from 1.2% to 2.1% in Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo, one of the country’s principal centers for technology and information.
New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland & Labrador are among the Atlantic provinces attracting immigrants. Atlantic Canada’s immigrant population quadrupled between 2006 and 2021, as the percentage of immigrants rose from 1.2 to 3.5%. Nova Scotia was the fastest-growing province (from 0.6% to 1.6%), followed by New Brunswick (from 0.4% to 1.2%). Newfoundland & Labrador and Prince Edward Island both increased from 0.1% to 0.3% in newcomer populations.
Developed to fill critical jobs in the region, the Atlantic Immigration Program. About 10,000 new immigrants landed in the Atlantic Provinces. After a year, the bulk of them decided to remain in Atlantic Canada.
Nova Scotia experienced the most growth (0.6% to 1.6%), followed by New Brunswick (0.4% to 1.2%). Between 2006 and 2021, the number of immigrants in Atlantic Canada quadrupled, rising from 1.2 to 3.5%. Among Atlantic Canadian provinces, Newfoundland and Labrador had a newcomer population increase of 0.3%. While Prince Edward Island had a newcomer population increase of 0.4%.
Approximately 10,000 immigrants arrived in the Atlantic Provinces as a result of the Atlantic Immigration Program. They remained in Atlantic Canada for over a year before most decided to leave.
Canadian linguistic diversity
Census 2021 recorded 450 mother tongues.
Recent immigrants consist of 69.4% non-native English or French speakers. A total of 10.3% of immigrants who do not speak an official language in Canada speak Arabic, 8.4% Tagalog, 7.9% Mandarin, and 6.5% Punjabi.
However, approximately one in four recent immigrants claims to be fluent in English. Indians, Filipinos, and Americans are most frequently among these immigrants.
Recently immigrated French speakers account for 6.5% of the population. French citizens make up a little over 30% of the population, followed by Cameroon (11.5%), Côte d’Ivoire (8.4%), Algeria (5.8%), and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (5.7%).
Most recent immigrants are able to speak either English or French
Despite the fact that most of the new immigrants do not speak English or French as their native tongue, 92.7% could hold a conversation in either English or French.
Most new immigrants claim to regularly speak either English or French at home. In addition, the data indicate that 76.4% of immigrants who arrived in the country before the 1980s and whose native tongue was not an official language spoke English or French at home regularly, either by themselves or in combination with other languages.
