While a few months ago we looked at the population of Canada, by Province and Territory, from 1871 to 2021, in this new article we will explore a new topic. How many people have immigrated to Canada, year by year, from 1971 to 2020? And which provinces and territories have the most immigrants? We will use the data from https://www.statcan.gc.ca/ to create the graphs, videos and tables. Enjoy reading! Immigrants to Canada by Province and Territoryy – 1971/2020.
Immigrants to Canada by Province and Territory – 1971/2020
We start by answering a first question. Which are the provinces and territories with the most immigrants from 1971 to 2020? Obviously, to answer this question, one must take into account that the Provinces and Territories of Canada are not all the same. We will look at the absolute figures though, at least initially, to understand the numbers as a whole. Only later will this data be linked to the number of inhabitants.
So let’s start with the latest available data, that for 2019/2020. The total number of new immigrants in Canada saw the Province of Ontario in first position. In fact, the number of immigrants in 2019/2020, was 127191. In second place was British Colubmia, with 44,899 and in third was Alberta with 35,519. Next, again with figures above 30,000, is Quebec with 33,295. Next we find a group of 2, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, which have similar values, ranging from about 15,000 to 13,000. Finally, there is a small group from Nova Scotia with 6239 to Nunavut with 39.
And about 50 years ago, what were the figures? In first place was always the Province of Ontario with a value of 62,258 immigrants. There were only two provinces with a value over 15,000, British Columbia and Quebec. Those with a value above 5,000 were 2, Alberta and Manitoba. The remaining provinces/territories all had a value of less than 2,000 people. From Nova Scotia with 1709 to Yukon with 70.
In addition to this data, as requested by some, I have also included the percentage value of new immigrants arriving in 2020 out of the total population.
In percentage terms, the Province of Prince Edward Island had 1.30 per cent of new immigrants out of the total resident population in 2021. This figure, in percentage terms, is the highest of all provinces and territories. Ontario, which is the Province with the highest absolute number in 2019/2020, 127191, has a value on the total population of 0.86%. Nunavut closes the ranking, which not only has the lowest figure in absolute terms, 39 new immigrants, but also in percentage terms: 0.10% of the resident population which is about 39500 people.
Immigrants to Canada – 1971/2020
But let’s take a step back. If above we have seen the data broken down by Province and Territory, what are the total figures for Canada? What was the number of immigrants year by year? To answer this question, I have made two different graphs. The first, showing the trend in an animated way and the second showing the data in a static way.
The number of immigrants to Canada in 2019/2020 was 284387. The 2019/2020 figure is not the highest figure in 50 years. In fact, the peak was reached in 2015/2016 when the total came to 323192. The increase in immigrant numbers in Canada occurred, as in other EU countries and even in the United States itself, between the 1980s and 1990s. In fact, while in the early 1980s, the number of immigrants in Canada was 88,592, by 1992/1993, the figure had reached 266,890.
Below you can see the data year by year. As mentioned above the peak was in 2015/2016 with over 323,000 people but the figures are rising.
Top 10 Countries Immigrant to Canada in 2019
We have seen the year-on-year numbers of immigrants in Canada. But what are the main countries of origin of immigrants to Canada?
In the first position (2019 data) we find India and China. These two nations, which are the largest in the world by population (China with almost 1.5 billion and India with 1.4 billion), are also the top nations by origin of immigrants to Canada in 2019. Of the total number of new immigrants to Canada in 2019, 85,585 were from India, 30,260 were from China and the Philippines was third. There were almost 28,000 people from this state. This is followed by Nigeria and the United States of America. The USA is in fifth position with 10,800 immigrants in Canada.
Also in the top positions are Pakistan, Syria, Eritrea, the Korean Republic and finally Iran. It is precisely Iran that represents an interesting case that I have explored in this article: https://statisticsanddata.org/data/international-students-in-us-by-country-of-origin/ when I was talking about the origins of students in American universities.
Total immigrant tp Canada by population by country of birth
Above we saw the year-by-year data of new immigrants. But what is the total number of immigrants in Canada (2017 data) nation by nation? First, the total Canadian population in 2017 was 37,815,446. The portion of the population born in Canada was 78.55%, almost 4/5 of the total. The top nations by total number of immigrants are again India and China. Immigrants to Canada from India in 2017 are in fact a total of 668,565 people. These are 1.9% of Canada’s total population and represent 8.87% of the total immigrant population. In second place is China with 649,260 immigrants in Canada, 1.85% of the total population and 8.61% of the total immigrant population. In the first 10 positions we find not only the United States, with a value of 0.72% of the total population, but also some European countries. First of all, the United Kingdom with almost 500,000 people and Italy with 236,635 people.
It is interesting to note that there are people from many different nationalities in Canada. There is a concentration from China, India and the Philippines, but it is also true that there are over 230 nationalities in the immigrant population. These include, for example, from the Maldives (50 people) or Andorra (20 people). In the ranking you can see the data per column. So both by total population, by portion of the immigrant population in Canada and by total portion of the total.
Emigration from Canada
If above we have seen the data related to immigration, in this last paragraph I show you the data on emigration. On this topic I would like to make a video like the one above, let me know if it would be interesting. Overall in 2019/2020 one of the lowest numbers of people emigrated from Canada. The number of people who left this nation was in fact 39,129. This is significantly lower than in previous years. In general, however, it was the years 1973/1974 that saw the highest number of emigrants. In that year there were 83,501 emigrants. From then on, the figure fell and for all the years that followed it was always less than 70,000.
Sources, links and other articles
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