Canada noticed record-high inhabitants progress final yr resulting from a surge in immigrants and short-term residents, the federal government statistical company mentioned Wednesday.
The company added that if the development continues the nation will double its inhabitants in 26 years.
As of Jan. 1, the nation’s inhabitants hit 39,566,248 after including 1,050,110 folks over the earlier 12 months – a sizeable achieve the likes of which has not been seen because the post-war child growth of the Fifties.
In the current day, nevertheless, worldwide migration accounted for almost all the progress (95.9%) as Ottawa sought to herald an increasing number of immigrants to fill a labor scarcity.
“This marks the first 12-month period in Canada’s history where population grew by over 1 million people,” Statistics Canada mentioned in an announcement.
With a rise of two.7%, Canada final yr by far led different Group of Seven industrialized nations and ranked among the many high 20 on the planet for inhabitants progress, the company mentioned.
Almost all international locations with the next tempo of inhabitants progress had been in Africa, it famous.
Faced with near-record low unemployment (5%) and an getting older inhabitants – with one in seven folks in Canada between the ages of 55 and 64 years – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal authorities doubled its goal for welcoming newcomers since coming to energy in 2015.
A file 437,180 immigrants landed in Canada in 2022, and that quantity is scheduled to rise to 500,000 per yr by 2025.
The variety of non-permanent residents granted work or research permits in Canada additionally spiked final yr to 607,782.
That was partly as a result of welcoming of many 1000’s of individuals fleeing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, mentioned Statistics Canada.
Earlier Immigration Minister Sean Fraser introduced {that a} program to assist briefly resettle Ukrainians in Canada, which was resulting from expire subsequent week, can be prolonged one other yr.
The authorities has additionally made it simpler for Afghans dealing with instability to come back to Canada, in addition to Turks and Syrians following latest earthquakes which have killed greater than 50,000 folks in these two international locations.
While Canadians typically have constructive views of immigration, the most recent inflow, in accordance with Statistics Canada, will pose challenges in areas of housing, infrastructure and transportation, and providers.
Source: www.dailysabah.com
