Over half of Metro Vancouver residents are now part of a visible minority: statistics

Towers in the Brentwood area of Burnaby. (Shutterstock)

For the first time ever, more than half of Metro Vancouver residents now identify as being part of a visible minority, according to Statistics Canada’s newly released data today from the 2021 census.

To be precise, 1.42 million residents of the region’s total population of 2.61 million residents are part of a visible minority or 54.5%, as of 2021. This is up from 48.9% or about 230,000 residents in the 2016 census when 1.19 million of the region’s 2.43 million residents identified as being part of a visible minority.

The largest visible minority is ethnic Chinese, representing 512,260 residents or 20% of the total regional population.

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A breakdown of Metro Vancouver’s visible minority populations in 2021, as identified by Statistics Canada:

Chinese: 512,260 (20%)
South Asian: 369,295 (14%)
Filipino: 142,120 (5.5%)
West Asian: 64,645 (2.5%)
Korean: 63,465 (2.4%)
Latin American: 51,500 (2%)
Black: 41,180 (1.6%)
Japanese: 31,195 (1.2%)
Arab: 22,445 (0.9%).

Continuing a trend well-established by previous census periods, Richmond leads Metro Vancouver’s municipalities in having the most residents who are part of a visible minority. This is driven by the 113,060 residents who are Chinese.

Burnaby, the second largest city in the region for visible minorities, has nearly 82,000 residents who identify as Chinese. Another 23,200 are South Asian.

Surrey’s proportion of visible minorities is the third highest in the region, with the largest group being South Asians — accounting for 212,680 residents, followed by 48,350 Chinese and 39,285 Filipino. The proportion of visible minorities in Surrey climbed up substantially from 58.5% in 2016 to 67.1% in 2021.

Coquitlam has 32,770 Chinese, 11,900 Korean, and 10,625 West Asian. It is the regional city with the fourth highest population of visible minorities.

Vancouver is fifth overall, with 168,385 Chinese, 44,850 South Asian, 38,605 Filipino, 20,585 Southeast Asian, 18,080 Latin American, 12,100 West Asian, 10,990 Japanese, 10,895 Korean, and 8,515 Black. The proportion of visible minorities in Vancouver went up from 51.6% in 2016 to 54.5% in 2021.

Two-thirds (65%) of the 3,150 residents within the University Endowment Lands identify as being a part of a visible minority. Over 1,000 are Chinese.

A breakdown of the largest proportion of visible minorities amongst Metro Vancouver’s big cities in 2021, as identified by Statistics Canada:

Richmond: 80% (167,395 out of 208,400)
Burnaby: 67.8% (166,690 out of 245,725)
Surrey: 67.1% (377,235 out of 562,565)
Coquitlam: 56.5% (83,330 out of 147,465)
Vancouver: 54.5% (354,615 out of 650,380)
New Westminster: 46.8% (36,550 out of 78,055)
Delta: 45.3% (48,625 out of 107,270)
West Vancouver: 43.3% (18,765 out of 43,385)
Port Coquitlam: 39.7% (23,960 out of 60,390)
North Vancouver City: 36.3% (20,855 out of 57,505)
Port Moody: 32.7% (10,930 out of 33,455)
North Vancouver District: 29.1% (25,415 out of 87,385)
Langley Township: 26.6% (34,860 out of 130,960)
Langley City: 24.7% (6,925 out of 28,025)
Pitt Meadows: 24.1% (4,580 out of 19,025)
White Rock: 23.7% (4,910 out of 20,725)
Maple Ridge: 21.6% (19,425 out of 89,860)

Of the 1.3 million residents in Metro Vancouver who were born inside Canada, three quarters (76%) were born within British Columbia.

This includes 413,625 residents who identify as being a part of a visible minority and were born within Canada — equivalent to 29% of the total number of visible minorities in the region. Of this figure, over 116,000 visible minorities were born within this province.

Between 2016 and 2021, a total of 154,820 immigrants were admitted into the region, including 97,715 as economic immigrants, 43,515 as immigrants sponsored by family, and 12,875 refugees. This is higher than the previous five-year period between 2011 and 2015, when 133,920 immigrants were admitted.

As can be expected, Canada’s three largest urban regions welcomed the most recent immigrants in 2021, with Greater Toronto accommodating 391,680 (29.5%), Greater Montreal at 162,260 (12.2%), and Metro Vancouver at 154,815 (11.7%). Between 2016 and 2021, a total of 1.3 million recent immigrants were permanently admitted into Canada, accounting for 16% of all immigrants living in the country last year.

About 11% of recent immigrants were youth and young adults between the ages of 15 and 24, while 64% were in the main working age group of 25 to 54. More immigrants are now working than before the pandemic, with immigration contributing to 80% of the growth in Canada’s workforce between 2016 and 2021.

The federal government has set a target of welcoming 1.2 million new additional immigrants to the country over a three-year period through 2023 to make up for the slowdown in new residents earlier this decade due to the pandemic and fuel economic growth and help address the immense labour shortage.

Based on the current trajectory, immigrants could account for 29% to 34% of Canada’s population by 2041 — up from 23% in 2021.

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