Immigrants Could Make Up Nearly One-Third of Canada’s Population by 2036: Statistics Canada Report

One in two Canadians will be an immigrant or a child of an immigrant by 2036, according to Statistics Canada. The agency released a report this week that outlines key demographic shifts over the next two decades.

The report finds that immigrants will make up between 24.5 to 30 percent of the Canadian population 20 years from now, up from 20.6 percent in 2011.

Though the number of immigrants coming to Canada has increased under the Trudeau government, their numbers have been rising the 1990s, compared to the general population,  thanks to an aging population and low birth rates.

The report also predicts that about 58 percent of Canadian immigrants will come from Asia by 2036, up from 44.8 percent in 2011.

Similarly, Canada's workplaces will look increasingly diverse as well, with nearly 40 percent (between 34.7 and 39.9 percent, to be precise) of the working population (15-64 years old) belonging to a visible minority group.

Don't expect all of the country to look like that, however, as the majority of immigrants will continue to remain concentrated in major cities like Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, and Vancouver.

It is expected that in some of those cities, visible minorities will actually make up the majority of the population by 2036.

This report comes at time when political tensions from the south of the border have generated serious questions about what Canada's immigration policies will look like over the next few years. With President Donald Trump talking about building walls to keep immigrants out, what happens next is anybody's guess.

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