Largest proportion of immigrants in Canada are Indians: Report

Indians account for nearly 18.6% immigrants in Canada…which means nearly one in five recent immigrants were born in India…

For the first time, India took the top spot as the primary place of birth of new immigrants to Canada from 2016 to 2021, followed by the Philippines which accounted for 11.4% immigrants…

8.9% new immigrants came from China…

Last year…over 2.46 lakh Indians immigrated to Canada of which 1.28 lakh were men and 1.18 lakh were women…

According to the Census report released last month… more than 8.3 million people, or 23.0% of the population, were or had been an immigrant in the country...

From 2016 to 2021, Canada's population grew by 5.4%, and new immigrants accounted for 71.1% of that growth…

Canada welcomes high levels of immigration to keep its economy strong...

The country has one of the world's oldest populations and also one of the world's lowest birth rates…

This creates economic and fiscal pressures…

As a result, Canada has been increasing its immigration levels since the late 1980s to balance its rate of population, labour force, and economic growth…

The rising proportion of immigrants is mainly driven by the record number of new immigrants who came to Canada from 2016 to 2021, despite fewer immigrants being admitted in 2020 because of COVID-19 pandemic…

The pandemic though highlighted the contribution that immigrants make to Canada's labour market.

More immigrants are now working in Canada than before the pandemic and from 2016 to 2021, immigration contributed to 79.9% of the growth in Canada's labour force.

With job vacancies in late 2021 hitting 80% higher than pre-pandemic levels, and the working population aging, immigration became even more critical to the labour market than ever before.

At 64.8%, the country's working population has never been older.

More than one in five people were closing in on retirement age between 55 to 64 years, an all-time high…while almost 64.2% recent immigrants were in the core working age group of 25-54 years

Only 3.6% recent immigrants were aged 55-64

From 2016 to 2021, immigrants accounted for four-fifths of labour force growth and a large share of recent immigrants were selected for their ability to contribute to Canada's economy.

Immigration to Canada is expected to continue to increase in the decades to come.

According to recent population projections, immigrants could represent from 29.1% to 34.0% of the total population by 2041.

Canada has regularly welcomed over 2 lakh immigrants per year since 1988 and under its latest Immigration Levels Plan, the country is now looking to welcome over 4 lakh 30,000 new immigrants each year- the highest level in its history.