Census of Population: Immigration, birthplace and birthplace of parents, citizenship, ethnic origin, visible minorities and Aboriginal peoples

The fifth round of data from the 2001 Census of Population is released today, profiling Canada's ethnocultural populations and Aboriginal peoples.

Proportion of foreign-born population highest in 70 years

The proportion of Canada's population who were born outside the country has reached its highest level in 70 years, according to new data from the 2001 Census.

As of May 15, 2001, 5.4 million people, or 18.4% of the total population, were born outside the country. This was the highest proportion since 1931 when foreign-born people made up 22.2% of the population. In 1996, the proportion was 17.4%.

For the first 60 years of the past century, European nations such as the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands, as well as the United States, were the primary sources of immigrants to Canada. Today, immigrants are most likely to be from Asian countries.

About 1.8 million people living in Canada in 2001 were immigrants who arrived during the previous 10 years, between 1991 and May 15, 2001. These individuals accounted for 6.2% of the total population in 2001.

Of those who immigrated in the 1990s, 58% were born in Asia, including the Middle East; 20% in Europe; 11% in the Caribbean, and Central and South America; 8% in Africa; and 3% in the United States.

The People's Republic of China was the leading country of birth among individuals who immigrated to Canada in the 1990s.

Nearly three-quarters (73%) of the immigrants who came in the 1990s lived in three census metropolitan areas: Toronto, Vancouver and Montréal. In contrast, just over one-third of Canada's total population lived in these three areas. In 1991, 66% of all immigrants who arrived in the 1980s lived in these three metropolitan areas.

Threefold increase in proportion of visible minority population since 1981

Canada was home to almost 4 million individuals who identified themselves as members of visible minority groups in 2001, accounting for 13.4% of the total population. Visible minorities are defined by the Employment Equity Act as "persons, other than Aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour."

This proportion has increased steadily over the past 20 years. In 1981, 1.1 million members of visible minority groups accounted for 4.7% of the total population; by 1996, 3.2 million accounted for 11.2%.

Combined, the three largest visible minority groups in 2001 - Chinese, South Asians and Blacks - accounted for two-thirds of the visible minority population. They were followed by Filipinos, Arabs and West Asians, Latin Americans, Southeast Asians, Koreans and Japanese.

Chinese, the largest visible minority group, surpassed one million for the first time. A total of 1,029,400 individuals identified themselves as Chinese in 2001, up from 860,100 in 1996. They accounted for 3.5% of the total national population and 26% of the visible minority population.

Aboriginal peoples: Still a young and growing population

In 2001, a total of 976,300 people identified themselves as members of at least one of three Aboriginal groups: North American Indian, Métis or Inuit. This was 22% higher than the 1996 figure of 799,000. In contrast, the total non-Aboriginal population grew only 3.4% between 1996 and 2001.

People who identified themselves as Aboriginal accounted for 3.3% of the nation's total population in 2001, compared with 2.8% in 1996.

About one-half of the increase in the Aboriginal population can be attributed to demographic factors, such as their high birth rate. The remaining increase is accounted for by various other factors, such as fewer incompletely enumerated reserves and an increased tendency for people to identify as Aboriginal.

Children aged 14 and under represented one-third of the Aboriginal population in 2001, far higher than the corresponding share of 19% in the non-Aboriginal population. Although the Aboriginal population accounted for only 3.3% of Canada's total population, Aboriginal children represented 5.6% of all children in Canada.

Aboriginal people are more mobile than other Canadians. In the 12 months before May 15, 2001, 22% of Aboriginal people moved, compared with only 14% of the non-Aboriginal population. About two-thirds of those who moved did so within the same community, while the remaining third changed communities.

Detailed analysis of these new census data is presented in two online reports: Canada's ethnocultural portrait: The changing mosaic, and Aboriginal peoples of Canada: A demographic profile, both available on Statistics Canada's website (http://www.statcan.gc.ca). Both documents are illustrated by numerous tables and charts.

These reports also link to various products and services available from the Census module, which was designed to provide easy access to census data using new electronic tools. Information in the module is organized into four broad categories: analysis, data, maps and reference material.

In addition, in the Community profiles module, data for immigration, visible minorities and Aboriginal peoples are available for Canada and the provinces and territories, as well as for 27 metropolitan areas and nearly 6,000 cities, towns, villages and Indian reserves.

For more information, contact Media Relations (613-951-4636), Communications Division.