E.g., 04/16/2024
E.g., 04/16/2024
Country Resource - Canada
Adjust Font    |   
(+) Increase Font
(-) Decrease Font
Reset Font
Print    |    RSS    |    Copyright & Reuse

Canada

CA
  • Population........................................................................38,516,736 (2023 est.)
  • Population growth rate ................................................................0.73% (2023 est.)
  • Birth rate..................................................10.11 births/1,000 population (2023 est.)
  • Death rate.................................................8.17 deaths/1,000 population (2023 est.)
  • Net migration rate.................................5.37 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2023 est.)
  • Ethnic groups*..................................Canadian 15.6%, English 14.7%, Scottish 12.1%, French 11%, Irish 12.1%, German 8.1%, Chinese 4.7%, Italian 4.3%, First Nations 1.7%, Indian 3.7%, Ukrainian 3.5%, Metis 1.5% (2021 est.)

* Percentages add up to more than 100% because respondents were able to identify more than one ethnic origin

CIA World Factbook

Profile
September 15, 2011

Canada's Immigration Policy: a Focus on Human Capital

Canada has long been a country of net immigration and has designed its current immigration policy around attracting highly educated and skilled migrants for entry into its labor force. In this country profile, Ashley Challinor discusses the challenges associated with this approach and provides a sense of the actual scale and nature of migration into Canada.

Recent Activity

Cover Top10 5Citizenship
Top Ten
December 14, 2015
Governments Increasingly Restrict Citizenship

Citizenship came under fire in new ways around the world in 2015, with attempts to both restrict who is eligible to become a citizen and who can be deprived of citizenship. Driven by fears of international terrorism, a number of countries proposed or passed legislation making it easier to narrow citizenship and broadening the range of offenses for which individuals can be stripped of their citizenship.

Cover Top10 10InvestorVisas
Top Ten
December 7, 2015
Shine Wears Off Investor Visa Programs as Questions about Economic Benefits and Fraud Lead to Reforms

A number of countries in 2015 redesigned their immigrant investor visa programs in response to questions about their economic benefits or allegations of fraud. The reforms have in some cases made such programs far more costly and encouraged investment in higher-risk assets. Applications for such visas have fallen signficantly in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom, as policymakers may have overestimated demand.

The ruins of the Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Mosul’s Old Town
Top Ten
December 11, 2014
Governments Fear Return and Intentions of Radicalized Citizens Fighting Abroad

Increasing numbers of Westerners heading to Syria and Iraq to join jihadist organizations like ISIS have governments concerned about possible attacks at home by returning fighters. Several thousand fighters from Europe and other Western countries are believed among the foreign nationals involved in conflicts in Syria and Iraq. Lawmakers scrambled in 2014 to respond with new policies, including seizing passports, stripping citizenship, and criminalizing travel to "no go" zones.

Cover Top10 9Points
Top Ten
December 10, 2014
The Points System Is Dead, Long Live the Points System

2014 marked the quiet demise worldwide of the traditional points system for selecting skilled immigrants. Canada, which in 1969 invented the points system, in 2015 will join other countries in adopting a hybrid system that places more emphasis on a demand-driven system. This article examines how following the economic crisis, governments have revamped, hybridized, or ended such programs.

Top Ten
December 1, 2012
Governments Crack Down on Student Visa Fraud

The United States, United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Canada remain top destinations for international students seeking a world-class education. Yet even as these countries and their universities recruit international students—both for their tuition fees and their brain power—they undertook efforts in 2012 to crack down on student visa fraud and some also sought to tighten entry requirements. Other top student destinations, however, are focused on using their visa policy to actively encourage student retention.

Feature
August 2, 2012
Shaping Citizenship Policies to Strengthen Immigrant Integration

In recent years, many governments have tightened their citizenship requirements as a way to promote better immigrant integration. In examining citizenship policy in the United States, Canada, and countries in the European Union, this article considers the balance policymakers face between requirements that may be too difficult for immigrants to meet and ones that will better help them find success in their new countries of residence.

Profile
September 15, 2011
Canada's Immigration Policy: a Focus on Human Capital

Canada has long been a country of net immigration and has designed its current immigration policy around attracting highly educated and skilled migrants for entry into its labor force. In this country profile, Ashley Challinor discusses the challenges associated with this approach and provides a sense of the actual scale and nature of migration into Canada.

Top Ten
December 1, 2009
Asylum Seekers Unnerve Governments

As violence flared from Afghanistan to Iraq to Mexico this year, hundreds of thousands fled over land and by boat in search of safety. Asylum seekers' main destinations—Europe, Australia, and Canada—were not new, but the governments in these countries took a harder line in 2009.

Top Ten
December 1, 2009
Canada Bucks the Trend and Keeps Immigration Targets Steady

Despite the highest unemployment rate in nearly a decade, Canada chose to leave untouched its long-standing points system and the number of immigrants admitted for permanent residence.

Top Ten
December 1, 2009
More Countries Entering into Post 9/11-Era Information-Sharing Agreements

Over the past year, long-standing discussions and negotiations have resulted in several new information-sharing initiatives that seek to boost security while facilitating travel for legitimate travelers.

Pages
Coverthumb TCM Competitiveness Canada
Reports
April 2019

The Canadian Express Entry System for Selecting Economic Immigrants: Progress and Persistent Challenges

Since its launch in 2015, the Express Entry system has changed how economic immigration to Canada happens and how it fits into public and political debates. And while it has proven successful in cutting through application backlogs, some challenges remain. This report looks at how and why this points-based system was introduced, what its impact has been, and how it could be further finetuned.

Coverthumb_ECECforRefugeeChildren
Reports
April 2018

Responding to the ECEC Needs of Children of Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Europe and North America

With many young children among the refugees and asylum seekers arriving in Europe and North America in recent years, policymakers and service providers are grappling with the task of designing and scaling up critical early childhood services. This report examines the approaches taken in nine key host countries, highlighting common challenges and promising practices.

The Economic Integration of Refugees in Canada: A Mixed Record?
Reports
April 2017

The Economic Integration of Refugees in Canada: A Mixed Record?

Refugees in Canada have experienced mixed success when it comes to economic outcomes. While they struggle to enter the labor market, over time they catch up to other immigrants and the Canadian born. This report examines the web of programs that facilitate refugee integration, as well as differences in outcomes—including for those who are privately sponsored or resettled by the government.

coverthumb fcdellis
Reports
October 2016

Mental Health Risks and Resilience among Somali and Bhutanese Refugee Parents

Somali and Bhutanese refugees are two of the largest groups recently resettled in the United States and Canada. This report examines factors that might promote or undermine the mental health and overall well-being of children of these refugees, with regard to factors such as past exposure to trauma, parental mental health, educational attainment, social support, and discrimination.

coverthumb tcmcanada
Reports
June 2016

What’s So Special about Canada? Understanding the Resilience of Immigration and Multiculturalism

Despite weathering many of the same economic and political challenges that have affected support for immigration in other countries in recent decades—from recession to threats of terrorism—Canada has managed to maintain a consistently positive public consensus around its immigration system. This report explores the evolution of Canada’s apparently unique attitude toward immigration and diversity.

coverthumb svrint
Reports
June 2016

Improving Education for Migrant-Background Students: A Transatlantic Comparison of School Funding

This report sheds light on supplementary funding mechanisms targeted to migrant-background students in four countries—Canada, France, Germany, and the United States—and some of the key challenges and strategies decisionmakers face as they attempt to ensure that additional resources are used effectively to remedy the achievement gaps that immigrant and refugee students often confront.

coverthumb MPIE Canada ExpressEntry
Reports
March 2016

The Canadian Expression of Interest System: A Model to Manage Skilled Migration to the European Union?

This report examines Canada's implementation of Express Entry, a system designed to fast-track for legal immigration the skilled immigrants deemed most likely to achieve economic success and positive integration outcomes. With the European Union seeking ways to better attract global talent, the report explores how the expression of interest system could offer mechanisms to improve the management of highly skilled migration.

coverthumb RMSG NursingQualifications
Reports
March 2015

Building Skills in North and Central America: Barriers and Policy Options toward Harmonizing Qualifications in Nursing

Amid aging populations and the growth of chronic diseases, the demand for skilled health-care professionals is on the rise in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. This report explores the policy implications, benefits, and challenges of harmonizing nursing qualifications in the region, suggesting that a more collaborative approach could result in greater supply and quality of nurses.

coverthumb TCM Cities NatlPolicy
Reports
July 2014

Giving Cities and Regions a Voice in Immigration Policy: Can National Policies Meet Local Demand?

Employer-sponsored immigration and subnational visa programs are the two major routes to channel new immigrant arrivals toward particular destinations where their labor is thought to be in high demand. This report assesses regional nomination programs in Australia and Canada, and the efficacy of employer-sponsored immigration in meeting the needs of cities and regions.

cover SkillsCanada
Reports
November 2013

Building New Skills: Immigration and Workforce Development in Canada

An examination of Canada's workforce development system and policies at a time of high unemployment among Canada's immigrants, this report covers why a growing number of policymakers think that the system may need reform. It also offers recommendations for more effective workforce development policies.

Pages