Asian Heritage Month 2025... By the numbers: Generation Status

• Over two thirds (69.5%) of people who reported an Asian origin were born outside Canada (first generation), while just over one quarter (25.9%) were born in Canada to at least one foreign-born parent (second generation).

• The most frequently reported Asian origins across generations reflect both recent and historical immigration trends. Among the most frequently reported Asian origins, Iranian (81.3%), Persian (78.0%) and Korean (77.2%) were those who had the largest share born outside Canada. Lebanese (36.9%), Vietnamese (36.7%) and Sri Lankan (34.1%) were the origins with the highest share of their populations of second generation. Japanese (32.8%) and Lebanese (20.5%) were the Asian origins with the largest share of their population born in Canada with Canadian-born parents (third generation).

Note to readers

This publication is part of our Asian Heritage Month 2025 series, examining the data on various topics relating to Asian populations across Canada. If you missed any of the previous articles, you can easily find them by searching for “Asian Heritage Month 2025” in the app. 

Reference

• Census of Population, 2021
• Ethnic or cultural origin by generation status: Canada, provinces and territories, census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations with parts