Each February, Statistics Canada celebrates Black History Month by highlighting the contributions, achievements, and experiences of Black Canadians through data and statistics.
Throughout this month, follow along with this series of articles that examine the data on various topics relating to the Black populations across Canada, starting with a demographic overview.
- In 2021, the Black populations1 reached 1,547,870 people, representing 4.3% of the total population in Canada.
- In 2021, over 4 in 10 Black people in Canada (41.0%) were born in the country. Black people represented the largest share (35.8%) of all racialized individuals in the third generation or more (born in Canada with all parents born in Canada).2
- While the size of the Canadian-born Black populations3 has grown by 165.8% from 1996 to 2021, the growth of the Black populations born outside Canada was slightly higher, at 175.6%.
Reference
Source: The Diversity of the Black Populations in Canada, 2021: A Sociodemographic Portrait
1 Since 1996, Statistics Canada has used the population group question in the census to measure the racialized populations through the visible minority concept in accordance with the Employment Equity Act. This article uses the category of “Black” in the visible minority variable to establish the counts of the Black populations in Canada and to conduct analysis. The “Black” category includes people who reported “Black” and “Black” and “White”. In the 2021 Census, 89.8% of the category “Black” was single-response answers and 10.2% was multiple-response answers associated with the categories “Black” and “White”. For more information about the derivation of the “Black” and other racialized populations categories, please consult the Visible Minority and Population Group Reference Guide, Census of Population, 2021.
The terms “Black Peoples” and “Black populations” are used interchangeably throughout this analysis. This article pluralizes the “Black” population group (e.g., Black populations, Black communities) in recognition of the plurality of the ethnicities, nationalities and geographic groups that the race-based concept of “Black” encompasses.
2 A person’s generation status refers to whether the person or the person’s parents were born in Canada.
- The term “first generation” includes people who were born outside Canada. These are mostly people who are now, or once were, immigrants to Canada.
- The term “second generation” includes people who were born in Canada and had at least one parent born outside Canada. For the most part, these are the children of immigrants.
- The term “third generation or more” includes people who were born in Canada and whose parents were also born in Canada.
3 This category refers to Black people born in Canada. They are also Canadian citizens by birth.
Contact information
For more information, contact the Statistical Information Service (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).