Canada has the second-highest number of foreign-born citizens of the G8 nations, and Vancouver has the second-highest number of foreign-born citizens of all Canadian cities, according to new population statistics released by Statistics Canada.
Foreign-born citizens now make up 20.6% of Canada's population (6.26 million out of a total population of 32.85 million). Outside the G8 countries, Australia has a higher foreign-born population than Canada with 26.8%.
Foreign-born citizens make up 45.2% of Metro Vancouver's population (one million out of a total population of 2.28 million). Only Toronto has a higher population of foreign-born citizens at 47%.
Between 2006 and 2011, 1.16 million immigrants came to Canada. The majority of foreign-born citizens in the Greater Vancouver region are from China, South Asia and the Philippines.
Filipinos led the immigration wave between 2006 and 2011. In 2011, 152,300 immigrants were from the Philippines – 13.1% of the immigrant population. Roughly 122,100 immigrants were from China (10.5%), and 121,400 (10.4%) from India.
