Historic record of 432,000 new immigrants came to Canada in 2022

Air Canada Boeing 787 at Hong Kong International Airport. (Shutterstock)

The door for immigration into Canada widened even further in 2022, allowing a total of 431,645 new permanent residents in the country — a new all-time historic record.

This exceeds the previous record made in 2021 when 405,750 immigrants were recorded. Before the records of 2021 and 2022, the last time Canada welcomed this many immigrants was in 1913.

Over the course of 2022, the federal government processed about 5.2 million applications for permanent residence, temporary residence, and citizenship. This represents the doubling of the number of applications processed in 2021.

You might also like:

As a measure to help the Canadian economy recover from the pandemic, the federal government expanded its pre-pandemic immigration policy by increasing its newcomer targets even further.

The pre-existing labour shortage was exacerbated by the pandemic, and immigration is making up for falling rates of new births. With an aging population, immigration is also necessary to fill in the accelerating number of retirements in the labour force.

Immigration accounts for nearly 100% of Canada’s labour force growth, and almost 75% of the population growth comes from immigration. The worker-to-retiree ratio is expected to grow from 7-to-1 50 years ago to 2-1 by 2035.

As well, the increased 2021 and 2022 immigration volumes help set off the slower immigration numbers in 2020, when health safety and travel restrictions impacted the movement of people worldwide.

“Today marks an important milestone for Canada, setting a new record for newcomers welcomed in a single year. It is a testament to the strength and resilience of our country and its people,” said Sean Fraser, the federal minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship, in a statement.

“Newcomers play an essential role in filling labour shortages, bringing new perspectives and talents to our communities, and enriching our society as a whole. I am excited to see what the future holds and look forward to another historic year in 2023 as we continue to welcome newcomers.”

Last November, the federal government also set new increased targets for immigration through the middle of this decade. The new targets are 465,000 in 2023, 485,000 in 2024, and 500,000 in 2025.

It is anticipated immigrants will account for up to 30% of Canada’s population by 2036 — up from 21% in 2011.

Immigration volumes were the driving force for historic population growth in 2022. Over the first nine months of last year, Canada’s population grew by 776,000 — a volume not seen since Canadian Confederation. In 2023, Canada could reach the population milestone of 40 million people.

You might also like: