Study: Canadian living abroad
Statistics Canada has released a study entitled 'Canadians living abroad'. The report focuses on emigrants who went to five countries: Australia, Italy, Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States, using data on immigration provided by those countries.
The report published today in Canadian Social Trends noted that there is no definitive count of Canadians scattered around the world. Compiling comprehensive information on Canadians living abroad is a challenge because there are no complete records of the permanent or temporary exit of everybody who leaves the country.
Here some of the studies findings:
Where in the world are Canadians?
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development estimates that 1.1 million people who were born in Canada were residing in other OECD countries at the beginning of the 21st century. Of these Canadian-born emigrants, the lion’s share (82%) resided in the United States.
Several other OECD countries were home to a substantial number of Canadian-born residents. Most popular in 2000 was the United Kingdom, where an estimated 72,500 Canadians resided. Considerably fewer – about 27,300 – lived in Australia, but the majority (61%) had been there for more than 10 years. France and Greece were the only other OECD countries which reported having more than 10,000 Canadian-born residents in the country.
Migratory exchanges between Canada and other countries
Of the five countries selected for this study, the United States by far welcomes the greatest number of Canadian emigrants. Between 2000 and 2004, an average of about 68,900 Canadians departed for the United States every year; in contrast, an annual average of about 6,100 US residents immigrated (obtained permanent resident status) to Canada during the same period.
Between 2000 and 2004, the UK received an average of 8,500 Canadians each year while sending Canada about 5,200 British emigrants.
The 2001 Census revealed that over 318,000 people born in Italy now call Canada home. Return migration is weak, with fewer than 1,000 Canadians per year leaving Canada to live in Italy during the five-year period 2000 to 2004. However; from 2000 to 2004, an annual average of 1,200 Polish immigrants arrived in Canada while about 300 Canadians went to Poland.
Nearly 1,000 immigrants from Australia are admitted to Canada annually; meanwhile, about 1,700 Canadians departed for Australia each year between 2000 and 2004. With the exception of Poland, the number of people who immigrate to Canada from the other countries in this study is lower than the number of Canadian departures in the first four years of the new millennium.
Canada is often thought of as an immigrant-receiving country, but it is also a player on the world stage as a source country of migrants. Whether Canadian migration abroad is temporary or permanent, long term or short term, far or near, Canadians are making their mark in other countries.
Using selective destinations, this article has shown that Canadian emigration abroad is just as selective as in-migration to Canada. Indeed, many Canadians with high levels of education depart for other parts of the world, and their employment levels are demonstrably higher in their settled countries than those of the host countries’ populations.
You can find the studies on our website at the following link: http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/080313/d080313c.htm
Yves Bouchard
Statistics Canada
March 13/ 2008
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Yves Bouchard 3/13/2008 |
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