Ottawa, 24 March 2023 (GNP): According to the national statistical office, immigration contributed to the bulk of the 1.05 million new residents in Canada in 2022 which saw record population growth.
If the current trend holds, the population of the country would double in 26 years, it added.
According to a press release issued by Statistics Canada on Wednesday, this is the first time in the history of Canada that its population has increased by more than one million people in a calendar year.
As per the nation’s statistics department, immigration accounted for 95.9% of the 2.7% rise in the overall population, which as of January 1 totaled 39,566,248 million.
Following unprecedented growth in 2022, #Canada’s population reached 39,566,248 on January 1, 2023. This growth was largely the result of welcoming immigrants and non-permanent residents. Learn more: https://t.co/5hxOPsqJjQ. pic.twitter.com/w5bC9K0DwO
— Statistics Canada (@StatCan_eng) March 22, 2023
Canada is the G7 country with the greatest population growth, and its 2.7% growth rate ranks among the top 20 in the world, whereas other wealthy countries struggle with slowing population growth.
In 2022, a record number of 437,180 immigrants entered Canada; according to Statistics Canada, this rise in immigration “is related to efforts by the Government of Canada to ease labor shortages in key sectors of the economy”.
“High job vacancies and labor shortages are occurring in a context where population aging has accelerated in Canada and the unemployment rate remains a near record low”, it added.
Also Read: Taiwan recalled its ambassador from Honduras
The number of non-permanent residents who received work or study visas in Canada increased to 607,782 last year.
That was partially a result of the thousands of individuals who were accepted after escaping Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Canadian government declared in late 2022 that it intended to welcome 1.5 million immigrants by 2025 in order to fill the economic deficit brought on by an aging workforce.
Gallup’s Migrant Acceptance Index published on December 7 of last year revealed that Canadians regularly rank among the most likely people in the world to perceive their towns as welcoming locations for immigrants to live.
But, if the trend from 2022 persists, Statistics Canada points out some potential future difficulties.
“A rise in the number of permanent and temporary immigrants could also represent additional challenges for some regions of the country related to housing, infrastructure and transportation, and service delivery to the population”, it said.
