Ethnic origins of people in Canada

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Map of the dominant self-identified ethnic origins per census division of 2006
[1]

According to the 2021 Canadian census, over 450 "ethnic or cultural origins" were self-reported by Canadians.[2] The major panethnic origin groups in Canada are: European (52.5%), North American (22.9%), Asian (19.3%), North American Indigenous (6.1%), African (3.8%), Latin, Central and South American (2.5%), Caribbean (2.1%), Oceanian (0.3%), and Other (6%).[2][3] Statistics Canada reports that 35.5% of the population reported multiple ethnic origins, thus the overall total is greater than 100%.[2][a]

The country's ten largest self-reported specific ethnic or cultural origins in 2021 were Canadian[b] (accounting for 15.6 percent of the population), followed by English (14.7 percent), Irish (12.1 percent), Scottish (12.1 percent), French (11.0 percent), German (8.1 percent), Chinese (4.7 percent), Italian (4.3 percent), Indian (3.7 percent), and Ukrainian (3.5 percent).[7][3]

Of the 36.3 million people enumerated in 2021 approximately 25.4 million reported being White, representing 69.8 percent of the population.[2][8] The indigenous population representing 5 percent or 1.8 million individuals, grew by 9.4 percent compared to the non-Indigenous population, which grew by 5.3 percent from 2016 to 2021.[9] One out of every four Canadians or 26.5 percent of the population belonged to a non-White and non-Indigenous visible minority,[8][c] the largest of which in 2021 were South Asian (2.6 million people; 7.1 percent), Chinese (1.7 million; 4.7 percent) and Black (1.5 million; 4.3 percent).[2]

Between 2011 and 2016, the visible minority population rose by 18.4 percent.[11] In 1961, less than two percent of Canada's population (about 300,000 people) were members of visible minority groups.[12] The 2021 census indicated that 8.3 million people, or almost one-quarter (23.0 percent) of the population reported themselves as being or having been a landed immigrant or permanent resident in Canada—above the 1921 census previous record of 22.3 percent.[13] In 2021, India, China, and the Philippines were the top three countries of origin for immigrants moving to Canada.[14]

  1. ^ "Population and growth components (1851–2001 Censuses)". Statistics Canada. 2010. Retrieved 2011-01-19.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "The Canadian census: A rich portrait of the country's religious and ethnocultural diversity". Statistics Canada, Government of Canada. The Daily. 26 October 2022b. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  3. ^ a b Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (2022-10-26). "Ethnic or cultural origin by gender and age: Canada, provinces and territories, census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations with parts". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Archived from the original on 2023-12-12. Retrieved 2022-10-26.
  4. ^ Simon, Patrick; Piché, Victor (2013). Accounting for Ethnic and Racial Diversity: The Challenge of Enumeration. Routledge. pp. 48–49. ISBN 978-1-317-98108-4.
  5. ^ Bezanson, Kate; Webber, Michelle (2016). Rethinking Society in the 21st Century (4th ed.). Canadian Scholars' Press. pp. 455–456. ISBN 978-1-55130-936-1.
  6. ^ Edmonston, Barry; Fong, Eric (2011). The Changing Canadian Population. McGill-Queen's University Press. pp. 294–296. ISBN 978-0-7735-3793-4.
  7. ^ Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (2022-10-26). "Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population Profile table Canada [Country] Total - Ethnic or cultural origin for the population in private households - 25% sample data". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Archived from the original on 2022-10-29. Retrieved 2022-10-28.
  8. ^ a b Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (2022-10-26). "Visible minority and population group by generation status: Canada, provinces and territories, census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations with parts". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 2022-10-29.
  9. ^ "The Daily — Indigenous population continues to grow and is much younger than the non-Indigenous population, although the pace of growth has slowed". Statistics Canada. 2022-09-21. Retrieved 2022-10-29.
  10. ^ "Classification of visible minority". Statistics Canada. July 25, 2008. Archived from the original on July 14, 2011. Retrieved September 18, 2009.
  11. ^ "Census Profile, 2016 Census". Statistics Canada. February 8, 2017. Archived from the original on October 15, 2017. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  12. ^ Pendakur, Krishna. "Visible Minorities and Aboriginal Peoples in Vancouver's Labour Market". Simon Fraser University. Archived from the original on May 16, 2011. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
  13. ^ "The Daily — Immigrants make up the largest share of the population in over 150 years and continue to shape who we are as Canadians". Statistics Canada. 2022-10-26. Retrieved 2022-10-29.
  14. ^ "2021 Annual Report to Parliament on Immigration". Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. 2022-03-15.


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