Newcomers make up 23% of Canada’s population, the highest proportion ever in the history of the confederacy, according to new data released by Statistics Canada on Wednesday.

For example, nearly one in four people in Canada in 2021 was or had been either a landed immigrant or a permanent resident, data from the most recent census shows.

Statistics Canada notes that this new record makes Canada the G7 country with the highest proportion of immigrants in its population.

The government agency points out that more than half of the recent arrivals are economic migrants. Statistics Canada believes newcomers can fill labor shortages.in a number of sectors and regions across the country“.

In Quebec, economic immigration programs are the responsibility of the provincial government, and 46.4% of new arrivals in 2021 were admitted as skilled workers.

Additionally, Statistics Canada notes that Montreal received a lower proportion of immigration in 2021 (12.2%) than it did in 2016 (14.8%), the year of the last census. This is the steepest decline among Canada’s three largest urban centers.

It is reported that more newcomers than before are settling outside major urban centers, such as in the Ottawa and Gatineau regions.

The proportion of recent immigrants who have chosen to settle in rural areas is only 3.2% across Canada.

More than 60% of the newcomers admitted between 2016 and 2021 were born in Asia. The main country of origin of all newcomers is India. In 2016, the Philippines ranked first and now second.

Just over 50% in Quebec primarily choose French

Published data shows that 60.4% of recent immigrants to Canada had neither French nor English as their first language. Outside of Quebec, nearly nine out of ten newcomers choose English as Canada’s first official language.

“Knowledge or predominant use of French or English tends to direct immigrants into one or the other of Canada’s two official language communities in the public and even the private sphere.writes Statistics Canada.

In Quebec, 54.4% of new immigrants had French as their only first official language and 25.5% only had English. 14.7% identified both English and French.

Statistics Canada expects to later release workplace language data to provide a more complete picture of language integration.

Emilie Bergeron, The Canadian Press