This announcement comes as Canada experiences a surge in immigration, achieving a new record high for the second year in a row following the pandemic-related decline in 2020.
In 2022, Canada welcomed 437,120 new permanent residents (PRs) throughout the country, as reported by Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). This figure represents an increase of almost eight percent from the total number of PRs admitted in 2021.
Furthermore, for the second consecutive year, Canada exceeded its immigration target outlined in the 2022-2024 Immigration Levels Plan, surpassing the 2022 target number of 431,645 by over 5,000 individuals. This is only the third time in Canadian history, after 1913 and 2021, that the country has admitted over 400,000 immigrants in a calendar year.
It is important to note that in 2020, Canada only admitted 184,000 new permanent residents (PRs) due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.
However, in 2022, economic immigration programs once again took precedence as the primary source of new immigrants to Canada. Specifically, financial streams such as worker programs, business programs, the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP), and temporary resident-to-permanent resident pathways comprised 58.5% of all new Canadian PRs during the year.
The monthly breakdown below provides the specific number of new Canadian PRs who arrived in Canada during each month of the year.
Throughout 2022, Canada admitted a minimum of 23,000 new permanent residents (PRs) each month.
Month | Number of new PRs |
January | 35,450 |
February | 37,360 |
March | 40,985 |
April | 36,365 |
May | 37,985 |
June | 43,940 |
July | 43,330 |
August | 34,135 |
September | 44,645 |
October | 33,625 |
November | 25,970 |
December | 23,340 |
New arrivals of permanent residents to Canada by immigration category in 2022
256,000 additional PRs entered Canada in 2022 as a result of economic-class immigration policies. In line with the 2022–2024 Immigration Levels Plan, which was unveiled in mid–February of last year, this represents 14,150 more economic immigrants than the nation had set a goal for – an increase of +5.8%.
In 2022, 97,165 new permanent residents entered Canada through the family class immigration categories. This number represents 22.2% of all newly arrived Canadian permanent residents, falling short of the 105,000 goal set forth in the Immigration Levels Plan for the years 2022–2044.
Note: In 2022, IRCC aimed for this group to represent slightly more than 24% of all newly-landed PRs.
The year 2022 saw a total of 75,330 “resettled refugees and protected persons” enter Canada, rounding out the main immigration categories. 17.2% of all new permanent residents to Canada were refugees and protected persons. Despite the fact that this is a larger number than the 60,115 immigrants that Canada was able to accept in 2021, IRCC only narrowly missed the 76,565 targets set for this immigration class (17.7% of all Canadian PRs).
The IRCC identified the remaining 8,500 new Canadian PRs as entering Canada under “All Other Immigration.”
In 2022, the majority of new Canadian PRs were from Afghanistan, China, and India.
The top source nations for the class of new Canadian permanent residents arriving in 2022 have changed marginally from the previous year, with Afghanistan and Syria replacing Brazil and South Korea in the top 10.
In 2022, China will once again take second position behind India as the top country from which Canadians immigrate. The proportion of immigrants from these two nations, which was 32% and 8%, respectively, last year, has dropped in contrast to 2021.
According to each immigrant’s place of citizenship, the following 10 nations were Canada’s top immigration sources in 2022. The number of immigrants from each nation will be mentioned, along with the percentage of that nation’s total PRs that came from that nation.
S. No. | Country | Number of immigrants | Percentage |
1 | India | 118, 095 | 27% |
2 | China | 31,815 | 7.2% |
3 | Afghanistan | 23,735 | 5.4% |
4 | Nigeria | 22,085 | 5.05% |
5 | Philippines | 22,070 | 5.04% |
6 | France | 14,145 | 3.2% |
7 | Pakistan | 11,585 | 2.6% |
8 | Iran | 11,105 | 2.5% |
8 | United States of America | 10,400 | 2.3% |
10 | Syria | 8,500 | 1.9% |
Top immigration regions for permanent residents in 2022 included Québec and Ontario
Although Ontario continued to be the most popular immigration destination for PRs in Canada in 2022, Quebec surpassed British Columbia as their second most popular initial settlement site.
While nearly 49% of new PRs settled across the province in 2021, only 42.2% of them selected Ontario as their initial location in 2022. This may be a result of Canada’s efforts to distribute the advantages of immigration more widely across the nation, which are being successful as the PNP gradually begins to predominate over Express Entry.
Quebec, which welcomed 68,685 newcomers in 2022, came in second. This number reflects approximately 15.7% of all new immigrants, an increase from slightly more than 12% in 2021.
Finally, British Columbia got 14% of Canada’s immigrants in 2022, down around three percent from last year. Only Alberta received more than 10% of all arrived immigrants in 2022; the province received a total of 49,460 immigrants over the course of the year (11.3%).
The table below shows the number of landed PRs in each province and territory of Canada for 2022 (along with the percentage share), as well as the percentage change in landed PRs for that area from 2021.
Province/Territory | PRs in 2022 | Percentage of all PRs | Percentage change from 2021 |
Newfoundland and Labrado | 3,490 | 0.7% | +0.2% |
Prince Edward Island | 2,665 | 0.6% | – |
Nova Scotia | 12,650 | 2.8% | +0.6% |
New Brunswick | 10,205 | 2.3% | +1% |
Quebec | 68,685 | 15.7% | +3.4% |
Ontario | 184,725 | 42.2% | -6.7% |
Manitoba | 21,645 | 4.9% | +0.8% |
Saskatchewan | 21,635 | 4.9% | +2.2% |
Alberta | 49,460 | 11.3% | +1.4% |
British Columbia | 61,215 | 14% | -3.1% |
Yukon | 455 | 0.1% | – |
Northwest Territories | 235 | 0.0% | -0.1% |
Nunavut | 45 | 0.0% | – |
Province not stated | 20 | 0.0% | -0.1% |
Total numbers in Canada | 437,120 | 100% | – |
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