Foreign-born Population, 2006

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Abstract

The 2006 Census enumerated 6.2 million foreign-born in Canada. The majority of the foreign-born population (86.8%) lived in three provinces: Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia. The map shows the percentage of the total population that was foreign-born by census division and census subdivision.

The 2006 Census shows that the proportion of Canada's population who were born outside the country reached its highest level in 75 years. The census enumerated 6.2 million foreign-born in 2006. They represented virtually one in five (19.8%) of the total population, the highest proportion since 1931, when 22.2% of the population was foreign-born. The proportion of the foreign-born fell during the Great Depression and the Second World War, leveling out at 14.7% in 1951. Since then, it has been rising. In 2001, the foreign-born represented 18.4% of the population. At 19.8%, Canada had a higher proportion of foreign-born than the United States (12.5%) and lower than Australia (22.2%).

The majority of the foreign-born population (86.8%) lived in three provinces: Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia. As well, these three provinces received 85.8% of all newcomers who arrived in Canada since 2001. In fact, Ontario and British Columbia were home to a higher proportion of foreign-born and recent immigrants than their proportion of the Canadian population. In 2006, 38.5% of the total population in Canada lived in Ontario, of which, the province had over one-half (54.9%) of the foreign-born population and one-half (52.3%) of the recent immigrants.

British Columbia was home to 13% of the total Canadian population, compared to 18.1% of the foreign-born population and 16% of newcomers. Historically, Quebec has had a smaller share of the foreign-born than its total population share. This was still the case in 2006. Quebec had close to one-quarter (23.8%) of the country's population. In contrast, the province was home to 13.8% of the foreign-born population and 17.5% of recent immigrants.

The Daily is Statistics Canada's official release bulletin. The Daily for December 4, 2007, marked the public release of this census variable. Highlight tables allowing users to perform simple rank and sort functions with the data at various levels of geography are available for this variable here: Immigration and Citizenship Highlight Tables, 2006 Census. Technical notes for this variable can be found at Place of Birth, Generation Status, Citizenship and Immigration Reference Guide, 2006 Census.

The text was adapted from Statistics Canada, 2006 Census: Immigration in Canada: A Portrait of the Foreign-born Population, 2006 Census: Findings, catalogue number 97-562-XIE2006001. Statistics Canada information is used with the permission of Statistics Canada. Information on the availability of the wide range of data from Statistics Canada can be obtained from the Statistics Canada's regional offices, its World Wide Web site at www.statcan.gc.ca, and its toll-free access number 1-800-263-1136.