About Migration in canada

Canada is a country of migrants. It has one of the highest rates of migration intensity of any country in the world (second only to Australia). In 2019, over three quarters of a million temporary residents and over a quarter of a million permanent residents arrived in Canada.

In recent years, migration patterns to Canada have changed rapidly. While permanent migration has remained remarkably steady, temporary migration has grown rapidly over the past decade. Particularly, temporary migration of foreign workers has quadrupled between 2000 and 2019, with a small dip in 2015.

Asian countries are the fastest growing senders of migrants to Canada, in particular from South Asia and South East Asia. Specifically, India (29%), China (12%), and the Philippines (4%) were the largest sources of origins for new migrants to Canada in 2019 and together provide over a third of all Canada’s incoming residents.

Globally, Canada’s international student programs are the largest driver for temporary migration to Canada accounting for 400,995 temporary residents in 2019. Further, the increase in temporary migrants to Canada is almost exclusively due to substantially rising numbers of international students coming from the low and middle income countries. India provides the most striking example, with a more than eighty-fold increase in international students between 2000 and 2019.

Within Canada, Ontario (44.2%),British Columbia (18.4%), and Quebec (14.0%) are the provinces receiving the most migrants, about 77% of all migrants to Canada. While differences in Temporary and Permanent migration to provinces and territories are largely insignificant for other provinces, large universities in Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec may make these provinces primary destinations for large numbers of incoming international students.