Asian Heritage Month 2025... By the numbers: Demographic characteristics

Each May, Statistics Canada proudly highlights the contributions of Asian Canadians for Asian Heritage Month. This year’s theme—Unity in Diversity: The Impact of Asian Communities in Shaping Canadian Identity—celebrates the longstanding presence of Asian Canadians and their significant contributions to Canada’s heritage, culture, economy and social fabric over generations.

Throughout this month, follow along with this series of quick facts on various topics relating to Asian populations across Canada, starting with a demographic overview.

• In 2021, people reporting Asian origins in Canada had younger median ages (34.4) compared to the total population (41.2). Among the most frequently reported Asian origins (reported by at least 50,000 people), Afghans had the youngest median age at 28.4, followed by Syrians at 28.6 and Pakistanis at 29.4. The top three most frequently reported Asian origins, Indian, Filipino, and Chinese respectively had a median age of 32.8, 35.6, and 38.8.
• In 2021, couple-family households were the most common household type (57.3%) for people reporting Asian origins. Among the most frequently reported Asian origins, the share living in this type of households ranged from 38.5% for Punjabis to 71.6% for Syrians. More than half of Chinese (57.9%), Filipinos (56.4%) and Indians (51.5%) lived in couple-family households.
• Some Asian origin groups were more likely to live in multigenerational households compared to the total population (6.6%). This type of household was most common among those of South Asian origins (19.4%). Notably, nearly one-third of Punjabis (32.5%) were living in multigenerational households. 

Reference

• Census of Population, 2021
• Special Interest Profile, 2021 Census of Population - Profile of interest: Ethnic or cultural origin - Geography: Canada [Country]
• Ethnic or cultural origin by generation status: Canada, provinces and territories, census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations with parts