Immigration influx blamed on housing shortage (representative)
Ottawa, Canada:
Canada’s population will reach a record 40.77 million in 2023, driven largely by temporary immigrants, Statistics Canada said Wednesday. In 2023, the country’s new population was 1.27 million, an increase of 3.2% over the previous year, the highest growth rate since 1957.
why it’s important
An influx of immigrants is blamed for a housing shortage that has pushed up home prices, pushing affordability to new lows and hurting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s approval ratings. Economists and the Bank of Canada said population growth also pulled down the country’s per capita gross domestic product and productivity levels last quarter.
Key Quotes
“By 2023, the vast majority (97.6 per cent) of Canada’s population growth will come from international migration (permanent and temporary immigrants), with the remainder (2.4 per cent) coming from natural growth,” Statscan said in a statement.
“This is the second consecutive year that temporary immigration has driven population growth and the third consecutive year of net NPR (non-permanent resident) growth,” the report said.
context
Canada relies heavily on immigrants to boost its workforce and economic growth, and according to a 2021 International Monetary Fund report, nearly a quarter of Canada’s population will be non-native-born Canadian residents. This is the highest level among G7 countries.
But in the past few months, Trudeau’s Liberal government has tried to respond to the pressure with measures to limit the number of international students and non-permanent residents who enter Canada each year.
From a numerical perspective
Statscan data shows that as of January 1, 2024, there were an estimated 2,661,784 non-permanent residents living in Canada. Of these, 2,332,886 are permit holders and their family members living with them, and 328,898 are asylum applicants with or without a work or study permit.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
