Vast majority of foreign-born live in four provinces
In 2011, the vast majority (94.8%) of Canada's foreign-born population lived in four provinces: Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec and Alberta. In comparison, these provinces accounted for 83.7% of individuals who were born in Canada.
The two provinces with the largest shares of people born outside the country were Ontario, where around 3,611,400 immigrants or 53.3% lived, and British Columbia, where about 1,191,900 immigrants or 17.6% lived. Overall, their share of immigrant population was higher than their share of Canadian population.
About 974,900 foreign-born people lived in Quebec, 14.4% of all foreign-born in Canada, while 644,100, or 9.5%, lived in Alberta.
These four provinces were also home to the majority of recent immigrants who arrived between 2006 and 2011. Of the 1,162,900 newcomers, 9 out of every 10 settled in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta.
Ontario received 43.1%, or just over 501,000 immigrants, and British Columbia, 185,100, or 15.9%. They were the only two provinces whose share of newcomers had declined, when compared with the 2006 Census. In 2006, Ontario had received 52.3% of the newcomers and British Columbia, 16.0%. The decline in the share of newcomers in these two provinces was due to a shifting of shares to the other provinces.
Quebec was home to 19.2% of all newcomers, up slightly from 17.5% in 2006. It took in the second highest share of recent immigrants, after Ontario. Another 12.4% of recent immigrants settled in Alberta, while 5.0% went to Manitoba and 2.3% to Saskatchewan. In 2006, the shares of recent immigrants in the three Prairie provinces were 9.3%, 2.8% and 0.7%, respectively.
A smaller share of newcomers lived in the Atlantic provinces in 2011: 0.9% in Nova Scotia, 0.6% in New Brunswick, 0.2% in Prince Edward Island and 0.2% in Newfoundland and Labrador. Nonetheless, when compared with the 2006 Census, the Atlantic provinces also experienced a slight increase in their shares of newcomers.
Most immigrants live in census metropolitan areas
Immigrants, especially recent arrivals, were much more likely to live in the nation's largest urban centres than people born in Canada.
Of Canada's 6.8 million immigrants in 2011, 91.0% lived in one of Canada's 33 census metropolitan areas (CMAs), compared with 63.3% of people who were born in Canada.
Overall, Canada's three largest CMAs – Toronto, Vancouver and Montréal – accounted for 63.4% of the country's immigrant population and 62.5% of recent arrivals. In contrast, the three CMAs accounted for slightly over one-third (35.2%) of the total population.
By far, the CMA of Toronto had the largest share of foreign-born of these urban centres, 37.4% of all foreign-born in Canada. About 2,537,400 immigrants lived in Toronto in 2011; they accounted for 46.0% of Toronto's total population, up slightly from 45.7% in 2006. Of all immigrants in Ontario, 7 out of 10 lived in Toronto.
Vancouver was home to 913,300 immigrants, 13.5% of the total immigrant population. They accounted for 40.0% of Vancouver's total population, about the same proportion as in 2006 (39.6%).
Montréal had 846,600 immigrants, or 12.5% of all immigrants. They represented 22.6% of Montréal's total population, compared with 20.6% in the 2006 Census.
Calgary had the fourth highest number of immigrants, at just under 313,900, or 4.6% of all immigrants. They represented 26.2% of its total population, up from 23.6% in 2006.
Ottawa - Gatineau, which was home to 3.5%, or over 235,300 of the country's foreign-born population, had the fifth highest number of foreign-born. They represented 19.4% of Ottawa - Gatineau's total population.
Most newcomers settled in the three largest urban centres
The propensity of immigrants to settle in the largest urban areas was even greater among newcomers.
The 2011 NHS data showed that most of the 1.2 million immigrants who arrived in Canada between 2006 and 2011 settled in a census metropolitan area. Slightly over three-fifths (62.5%) of these recent immigrants chose to settle in the three largest census metropolitan areas – Toronto, Montréal and Vancouver. In contrast, slightly over one-third (35.2%) of Canada's total population lived in these three CMAs.
Just over 381,700 newcomers settled in Toronto, about one-third (32.8%) of the total, the highest share. They made up 6.9% of Toronto's total population. In comparison, in the 2006 Census, 40.4% of recent immigrants at the time settled in Toronto, they accounted for 8.8% of the total population in the census metropolitan area.
About 189,700 newcomers settled in Montréal, 16.3% of the total, the second largest share. They accounted for 5.1% of Montréal's total population.
Vancouver received just over 155,100 newcomers, 13.3% of all recent immigrants. They represented 6.8% of its population.
These centres were followed by census metropolitan areas on the Prairie provinces. Calgary took in 6.1% of all newcomers, about 70,700 individuals, while another 4.3%, or 50,000, settled in Edmonton and 3.9%, 45,300, in Winnipeg. The share of newcomers in both Winnipeg and Calgary in 2011 was almost twice their share of Canada's total population.
While Toronto took in a smaller share of newcomers in 2011 than in 2006, the shares for Montréal, Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg in 2011 were greater than in 2006.
