Many Canadian citizens live abroad. They contribute to showcasing Canada and Canadian values around the world in a variety of fields, such as culture, sports and science.
These Canadian citizens living abroad can also benefit from services offered by Canada, such as consular services or repatriation in the event of difficult or unexpected situations, or to simply want to maintain ties with the country.
This population of interest is often called the "Canadian diaspora."
For the first time, in the study entitled "The Canadian diaspora: Estimating the number of Canadian citizens who live abroad," Statistics Canada is proposing an estimate of the number of Canadian citizens living abroad. Given the challenges associated with this endeavour, the study provides a range of possible estimates.
Because a permanent population register does not exist, indirect sources must be used to estimate this population. This exercise used methods of demographic analysis and drew on many Canadian and international data sources such as censuses, demographic estimates, and statistics from the United Nations. A number of estimation scenarios were developed, as assumptions were needed for such things as the fertility of Canadian women living abroad and the transmission of Canadian citizenship from parents to children born and living abroad.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).