Infosheet - By the numbers: Asian Heritage Month 2022

By the numbers: Asian History Month 2022 (PDF, 8.72 MB)

By the numbers: Asian History Month 2022

Description - Infosheet - Asian Heritage Month 2022

May is Asian Heritage Month, a time to celebrate and learn about the stories of people of Asian heritage in Canada.

Canadians of Asian descent

In the 2016 Census, 6,095,235 people in Canada reported having Asian origins, representing 17.7% of Canada's population.

  • Chinese: 1,769,195
  • Iranian: 210,405
  • Lebanese: 219,555
  • Pakistani: 215,555
  • Sri Lankan: 152,595
  • Filipino: 837,130
  • Indonesian: 21,390
  • Japanese: 121,485
  • Korean: 198,210
  • Vietnamese: 240,615
  • East Indian: 1,374,710

Source: Statistics Canada. 2017. Canada [Country] and Canada [Country] (table). Census Profile, 2016 Census. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 98-316-X2016001. Ottawa. Released November 29, 2017.

Mother tongue

Some of the mother tongues Canadians reported speaking in the 2016 Census:

  • Arabic: 419,890
  • Hindi: 110,640
  • Vietnamese: 156,425
  • Punjabi (Panjabi): 501,680
  • Persian (Farsi): 214,200
  • Japanese: 43,640
  • Korean: 153,425
  • Cantonese: 565,270
  • Mandarin: 592,040
  • Tagalog (Pilipino, Filipino): 431,380

Source: Statistics Canada. 2017. Canada [Country] and Canada [Country] (table). Census Profile, 2016 Census. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 98-316-X2016001. Ottawa. Released November 29, 2017.

Looking for more data?

Stay tuned for the 2021 Census release on linguistic diversity in Canada on August 17, 2022, and the release on the ethnocultural and religious composition of Canada's population on October 26, 2022.

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