The Daily — Immigrants make up the largest share of the population in over 150 years and continue to shape who we are as Canadians (2024)

Released:2022-10-26

Canada has a long history of immigration. Millions of people from all over the world have chosen, and continue to choose, Canada as their new home. In2021, more than8.3million people, or almost one-quarter (23.0%) of the population, were, or had ever been, a landed immigrant or permanent resident in Canada. This was the largest proportion since Confederation, topping the previous1921record of22.3%, and the highest among the G7.

Given that the population of Canada continues to age and fertility is below the population replacement level, today immigration is the main driver of population growth. If these trends continue, based on Statistics Canada's recent population projections, immigrants could represent from29.1% to34.0% of the population of Canada by2041.

The COVID-19pandemic highlighted the contribution that immigrants make to Canada's labour market. With job vacancies in late2021hitting80% higher than pre-pandemic levels, and the working population aging, immigration is even more critical to the labour market than ever before. Recent immigrants, whose age structure is younger than the general population, constitute a pool of workers who can help mitigate the impacts of labour shortages in a number of sectors and regions across the country. From2016to2021, immigrants accounted for four-fifths of labour force growth. More and more immigrants have pre-admission experience in Canada, and a large share of recent immigrants were selected for their ability to contribute to Canada's economy.

Immigrants come from many different countries, bringing with them their cultural, ethnic, linguistic and religious heritage. In the past, the majority of immigrants in Canada came from Europe. However, over the past50years, the share of new immigrants from Europe has declined, with the share of new immigrants who were born in Asia (including the Middle East) increasing. Over time, Asia has become the top source region of new immigrants, and this trend continued in2021. The share of new immigrants from Africa also increased. Together, immigrants, Indigenous people—who have walked this land for thousands of years, before Europeans settled here—and their descendants have helped shape Canada as it is known today.

Today, Statistics Canada is releasing the sixth set of results from the2021Census, which provide an updated statistical portrait of the immigrant population. The census is one of the most comprehensive sources of data on immigrants living in Canada, allowing for comparability over time and at various levels of geography.

Governments at all levels—from federal to provincial, territorial and municipal—as well as many other non-governmental and community organizations will use this information to develop and evaluate immigration policies and programs, and to plan and implement education, health care, housing and other services.

Canada's population growth driven by the record number of new immigrants admitted from2016to2021

The rising proportion of immigrants is mainly driven by the record number of new immigrants who came to Canada from2016to2021, despite fewer immigrants being admitted in2020 because of the border and travel restrictions implemented in response to the pandemic.

From2016to2021, Canada's population living in private households grew by5.4%, and new, or recent, immigrants accounted for71.1% of that growth.

Over1.3million recent immigrants were permanently admitted from January1,2016to May11,2021, accounting for15.9% of all immigrants living in Canada in2021.

When combined with those already established here, more than8.3million people, or23.0% of the population, were or had ever been a landed immigrant or permanent resident of Canada in2021.

Immigration is expected to continue to increase in the decades to come. According to Statistics Canada's recent population projections, immigrants could represent from29.1% to34.0% of the total population by2041.

Close to two-thirds of recent immigrants are of core working age

While Canada has the highest share of the total population aged15to64among G7countries, at64.8%, the country's working population has never been older. According to the recent census release on age and type of dwelling, more than one in five people were closing in on retirement age (55to64years), an all-time high. There were also more people aged55to64than young adults aged15to24.

While immigration ultimately cannot stop the population aging process, it has a rejuvenating effect on the population in Canada overall. Since people usually migrate when they are young, the vast majority (95.8%) of recent immigrants to Canada from2016to2021were under the age of65.

Just over1in10recent immigrants were youth and young adults aged15to24(10.9%), while most (64.2%) were in the core working age group of25to54. A much smaller proportion of recent immigrants (3.6%) were aged55to64.

Children younger than15years of age, who may one day join the labour force, represented17.1% of recent arrivals to Canada. Immigration over the near term will ease the labour force crunch in Canada.

More immigrants are now working in Canada than before the pandemic, and, from2016to2021, immigration contributed to79.9% of the growth in Canada's labour force. The labour market outcomes of immigrants have improved in recent years, and since2016, the employment rate among immigrants has risen by2.0percentage points, while the Canadian-born population has experienced a decrease of2.0percentage points.

Although more immigrants are employed in Canada, challenges remain, especially regarding skill utilization. From2001to2016, the percentage of university-educated recent immigrants working in a job requiring a university degree decreased and was well below the proportion of their Canadian-born counterparts. Recent policy changes have been implemented to improve labour market outcomes for new immigrants and to increase the responsiveness of immigration to labour market demand. The census release in November2022will allow for further analysis of the education levels of Canada's recent immigrants and their skill uptake in the labour market.

More than half of recent immigrants are admitted under the economic category

In Canada, immigrants are selected according to three broad objectives: to enhance and promote economic development, to reunite families, and to fulfill the country's international obligations and uphold its humanitarian tradition.

Immigrants admitted under the economic category are selected based upon their potential economic contribution to meet labour market needs, or to create economic opportunities by owning, operating or investing in a business or through self-employment. In2021, more than half (56.3%) of recent immigrants living in Canada were admitted under the economic category, either as the principal applicant or the dependant.

Among the broad types of economic immigration programs, more than one-third (34.5%) of new economic immigrants admitted from2016to2021were selected under one of the skilled worker programs. A similar proportion were selected under the Provincial Nominee Program, which is a program where people who have skills, education and work experience are nominated to contribute to the economy of a specific province or territory.

The proportion of economic immigrants admitted under the Provincial Nominee Program has increased since the first Provincial Nominee Program agreement was signed in Manitoba in1996. Of those new economic immigrants admitted from2016to2021,33.6% were Provincial Nominee Program candidates, compared with3.7% of those economic immigrants admitted from2001to2005and still living in Canada.

Manitoba (90.2%) had the highest share of recent economic immigrants selected as provincial nominees, followed by Saskatchewan (87.3%) and Prince Edward Island (84.7%). Provincial nominees also accounted for the majority of recent economic immigrants in Nova Scotia (66.4%), New Brunswick (63.7%), Yukon (62.9%), the Northwest Territories (56.8%) and Newfoundland and Labrador (53.3%).

In Canada, nine provinces and two territories have established their own Provincial Nominee Program. The exceptions are Quebec and Nunavut. Quebec has administered its own economic immigration programs since1991through the Canada–Quebec Accord, which gives the province more autonomy over the selection and integration of its immigrants. In2021,46.4% of recent immigrants who lived in Quebec were admitted under a skilled worker program.

More than one-third of recent immigrants have pre-admission experience

Pre-admission experience is gained when immigrants first come to Canada temporarily on work or study permits or as asylum claimants before seeking permanent residence. This process is called "two-step immigration" and it can ease an immigrant's integration into the Canadian labour market and improve earnings in both the short and long term. The two-step immigration process has the objective to improve outcomes for immigrants, employers, society and the economy, giving both the receiving country and the potential immigrant the opportunity to test the situation before making the move permanent.

Among immigrants admitted since1980and where pre-admission experience information was available, one-quarter (25.2%) had lived temporarily in Canada before their admission as permanent residents or landed immigrants.

Given the increase in the number of temporary foreign workers and international students, as well as the expansion of some economic immigrant programs (for example, the Canadian Experience Class and the Provincial Nominee Program), two-step immigration is more common among recent immigrants. In2021, over one-third (36.6%) of immigrants admitted in the previous five years had gone through this process, compared with17.9% among longer-term immigrants (those admitted from2001to2005).

Most (62.9%) immigrants admitted since1980with pre-admission experience had acquired a temporary work permit. This was especially true among immigrants who recently settled in the country permanently (77.3%). There are many benefits associated with pre-admission experience. It plays a key role in lifting immigrants' wages, as it provides pathways for immigrants to acquire language skills and knowledge of the Canadian labour market. Immigrants with prior experience in Canada have contributed to recent improvements in labour force outcomes among new immigrants.

Increasing shares of recent immigrants settling outside Canada's three largest urban centres

In2021, over9in10recent immigrants lived in one of Canada's41census metropolitan areas (CMAs), which are large urban centres of over100,000residents. As was the trend over the past50years, Toronto (29.5%), Montréal (12.2%) and Vancouver (11.7%) continued to welcome the most recent immigrants in2021.

However, the share of recent immigrants who have settled in Canada's three largest urban centres continued to decline, falling from56.0% in2016to53.4% in2021—with the most pronounced decrease in Montréal, where the share went from14.8% in2016to12.2% in2021.

In contrast, an increasing number of recent immigrants have settled outside these key urban centres, strengthening population growth in urban centres outside Canada's three largest CMAs. For example, the share of recent immigrants who settled in Ottawa–Gatineau rose from3.1% in2016to4.4% in2021, while it almost doubled in Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo (from1.2% in2016to2.1% in2021; see Table1).

Additionally,4.4% of recent immigrants settled in small urban areas (census agglomerations) and3.2% of recent immigrants settled in rural areas (outside CMAs and census agglomerations) in2021.

New immigrants often settle in regions where they have existing social networks, economic and employment opportunities and enjoy the general appeal of the area. Several immigration programs and investments were also designed to help balance the geographical distribution of recent immigrants across the country and encourage settlement in both small and large metropolitan areas.

The share of recent immigrants settling in Atlantic Canada has nearly tripled since2006

The share of recent immigrants settling in Atlantic Canada has almost tripled, rising from1.2% in2006to3.5% in2021. Over this15-year period, the share of recent immigrants rose in Nova Scotia (from0.6% to1.6%), New Brunswick (from0.4% to1.2%), Prince Edward Island (from0.1% to0.4%) and Newfoundland and Labrador (from0.1% to0.3%).

As is the case in other provinces, the settlement of recent immigrants is especially notable in the large urban centres of the Atlantic provinces. Between one-third and one-half of all immigrants living in Moncton (48.4%), Fredericton (39.2%), Saint John (36.2%), Halifax (35.2%) and St. John's (32.5%) were admitted from2016to2021.

Following the drop in global oil prices in2014and increased unemployment in Alberta, the proportion of new immigrants settling in Alberta fell from17.1% in2016to14.5% in2021. Nevertheless, this was well above the proportion observed in2006, when9.3% of new immigrants made Alberta their home.

New immigrants represented almost one-third of the immigrant population of Regina (32.5%) and Saskatoon (31.2%) in2021.

The territories (Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut) had the lowest numbers of recent immigrants in Canada. In2021,2,175new immigrants, or0.2% of all recent immigrants to the country, settled in the territories. This proportion has remained stable since2011.

Changes in the place of birth of immigrants over time contribute to Canada's linguistic and ethnocultural landscape

The places of birth of immigrants and refugees to Canada have changed over time, in tandem with changing immigration policies as well as international events, contributing to the diversity of Canadian society.

For decades, Asia (including the Middle East) has accounted for the largest share of recent immigrants. This proportion has grown, with Asian-born immigrants making up a record-high62.0% of recent immigrants admitted from2016to2021—whereas in1971,12.1% of recent immigrants were from Asia.

The share of recent immigrants born in Europe continued its50-year downward trend. In2021,1in10recent immigrants (10.1%) were from Europe, a proportion about six times lower than in1971(61.6%).

Largest proportion of new immigrants comes from India

For the first time, India took the top spot as the primary place of birth of new immigrants to Canada (18.6% of recent immigrants from2016to2021), followed by the Philippines (11.4%) and China (8.9%).

The last time that such a high proportion of immigrants came from a single place of birth was during the1971Census, when20.9% of all recent immigrants came from the United Kingdom.

The picture of immigration varies in Canada by place of birth, period of immigration, admission category and place of residence. See this interactive chart for more information on how immigration varies by region.

Over450mother tongues reported on the census, as newcomers contribute to linguistic diversity

The wide variety of source regions of immigrants contributes to the linguistic diversity in Canada. In2021,69.4% of recent immigrants did not report having English or French as their mother tongue, that is, the first language they learned in childhood that is still understood. In the context of this release, languages other than English and French are also referred to as "non-official languages." Arabic (10.3%), Tagalog (8.4%), Mandarin (7.9%), and Punjabi (6.5%) were the non-official languages reported most often as mother tongues by recent immigrants, either alone or with another language.

In2021, nearly one in four recent immigrants (24.4%) reported English as their mother tongue—alone or with another language. This proportion was up from18.2% in2016. Those immigrants reporting English as their mother tongue predominately came from India (20.5%), the Philippines (12.5%), the United States (10.3%) and Nigeria (10.2%).

Of recent immigrants,6.5% reported French as their mother tongue, either alone or with another language, the same proportion as in2016. These recent immigrants were largely coming from France (30.3%), Cameroon (11.5%), Côte d'Ivoire (8.4%), Algeria (5.8%) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (5.7%).

The vast majority of recent immigrants can conduct a conversation in either English or French

Although a large proportion (69.4%) of the recent immigrants reported only having non-official languages as their mother tongue, the vast majority (92.7%) of the more than1.3million recent immigrants reported being able to conduct a conversation in English or French.

Among those recent immigrants who did not report English or French as their mother tongue, nearly two-thirds (62.3%) reported speaking at least one of the two official languages regularly at home, either alone or with another language, reflecting one aspect of the integration of these newcomers. More specifically, almost half (47.8%) reported speaking only English with a non-official language regularly at home, while7.4% reported speaking only English,3.3% reported speaking only French with a non-official language and1.2% reported speaking only French regularly at home.

The percentage of immigrants who spoke English or French regularly at home was even higher among immigrants who had been in Canada longer. In2021,76.4% of immigrants who settled in the country before the1980s and whose mother tongue was not an official language spoke English or French regularly at home, either alone or with another language.

The knowledge or predominant use of English or French generally leads immigrants to one of Canada's two official language communities in the public sphere, and even the private sphere. The first official language spoken (FOLS) is a general indicator of this linguistic orientation.

Outside Quebec, almost9in10recent immigrants (89.1%) had only English as their FOLS. The share of recent immigrants settling outside Quebec with only French as their FOLS was2.1%, while1.3% reported both English and French as their FOLS. The share of recent immigrants outside Quebec with neither English nor French was7.5%.

In Quebec, over half (54.5%) of recent immigrants had only French as their FOLS in2021. The share of recent immigrants to Quebec with both English and French as their FOLS was14.7% in2021, and just over one in four (25.5%) had only English as their FOLS. The share of recent immigrants in Quebec with neither English nor French as their FOLS was5.3%.

For more information on the linguistic integration of immigrants, stay tuned for the release on language at work. New census data will be available in November2022.

Immigrants also contribute to the ethnic, cultural and religious diversity of the country. For more information, the Daily article titled "The Canadian census: A rich portrait of the country's religious and ethnocultural diversity" is available today.

The vast majority of immigrants, recent or established, live in a major urban centre

The provinces and territories, especially the urban centres where immigrants are initially settled, often remain the place they call home, contributing to the urbanization of the country.

The vast majority (92.2%) of immigrants in2021lived in a CMA. In comparison, just over two-thirds (67.7%) of those born in Canada lived in a CMA.

The fact that most established immigrants and recent immigrants choose to settle in large urban centres has had a profound impact on Canada's cities. New immigrants tend to join existing immigrant communities already established throughout the country, especially in its largest cities. Family, friends, jobs, housing and lifestyle are some of the key factors that immigrants consider when selecting their new home.

The large urban centre of Toronto has the largest proportion of immigrants overall. In2021, close to half (46.6%) of the population living in the Toronto CMA were immigrants. Immigrants made up more than half of the residents of four municipalities in the Toronto CMA: Markham (58.6%), Richmond Hill (58.2%), Mississauga (53.2%) and Brampton (52.9%).

Vancouver had the second-largest proportion of immigrants, at41.8%. Within the large urban centre of Vancouver, immigrants accounted for three-fifths (60.3%) of the population of Richmond and half (50.4%) of Burnaby's population.

Among Canada's41largest urban centres, the proportion of immigrants was above the national average of23.0% in Calgary (31.5%), Abbotsford–Mission (26.1%), Edmonton (26.0%), Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo (25.8%), Hamilton (25.6%), Winnipeg (25.4%), Montréal (24.3%) and Windsor (23.3%).

According to2022results from the Canadian Social Survey, most new immigrants still value having family in the area. At the same time, the location of jobs, businesses and education prospects, as well as housing, are also among the top key factors considered by immigrants as reasons for settling in specific cities.

The fact that recent immigrants are increasingly choosing to settle outside of the large urban centres of Toronto, Montréal and Vancouver may partly reflect the higher shelter and housing costs and availability in these cities, as Toronto and Vancouver reported the highest rates of unaffordable housing in the2021Census. According to the census release on housing, shelter costs across Canada, especially for renters, have been rising since2016. Despite improved housing affordability overall, over one in five immigrants (21.0%) spent at least30% of their income on shelter costs. In comparison,13.2% of non-immigrant respondents spent at least30% of their income on shelter in2021. Approximately1in7recent immigrants (14.3%) were deemed in core housing need, compared with around1in16(6.4%) for those born in Canada.

Other possible factors for the shift in settlement patterns of immigrants include changes in regional economic conditions, immigration programs and source countries of immigrants.

Almost one-third of all children in Canada have a least one parent born abroad

Canadian-born children of immigrants, also called the "second generation," have at least one foreign-born parent. The second generation may adopt a dual cultural background, combining the values and culture of their parents' country of origin with the values, social norms and official languages of the host country, and act as a bridge between their immigrant parents and the rest of the population.

According to2021Census data, almost1.9million children younger than15years had at least one parent born abroad, accounting for almost one-third (31.5%) of all children in Canada. This proportion was up from26.7% in2011and29.2% in2016.

When added to the children of immigrants who are now adults, the share of second-generation Canadians has remained relatively stable in the last decade. Just under6.4million people born in Canada had at least one foreign-born parent in2021, representing17.6% of the total population, compared with just over5.7million in2011, or17.4% of the total population.

Children of immigrants—both young and old—contribute to the population renewal, economic growth and diversity of Canada.

Looking ahead

Public decision makers, employers and providers of health care, education, justice and other services use census data to better meet the needs of immigrants.

Immigrants who have settled in Canada for a certain number of years can apply for and obtain Canadian citizenship. Read more about Canadian citizenship in the Census in Brief article coming soon.

For more census results on the diversity of the population, consult the Daily article on ethnocultural diversity and religion, also released today.

Look out for the next census release on education and the labour force, coming out on November30,2022. The release of these data will allow for more in-depth analysis of socioeconomic outcomes for immigrants.

More census information on non-permanent residents in Canada will be released in2023.

Contact information

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).