Filipinos in Canada to reach 2 million by 2041

While immigration is the biggest driver of Filipino population growth in Canada, the number of Filipino immigrants’ babies  born in Canada grew by close to 19 percent, according to Statistics Canada. HELPING HOUSE/INQUIRER FILE

Close to a million Filipinos now make up the fourth largest racial group in Canada, and the number is projected to reach 2 million by 2041, Statistics Canada reported.

There are now 960,000 Filipinos in Canada or about 2.6% of the country’s 38,929,902 total population as of July 1, 2022.

In 2021, three racial groups represented 16.1% of Canada’s total population. These are South Asians (2.6 million people; 7.1%), Chinese (1.7 million; 4.7%) and Blacks (1.5 million; 4.3%), with each population topping one million already.

In 2016, these groups represented 13.6% of Canada’s total population or a 2.5% growth in a span of five years.

“Canada has a long history of immigration. Millions of people from all over the world have chosen, and continue to choose, Canada as their new home.

“In 2021, more than 8.3 million people, or almost one-quarter (23.0%) of the population, were, or had ever been, a landed immigrant or permanent resident in Canada.

“This was the largest proportion since Confederation, topping the previous 1921 record of 22.3%, and the highest among the G7,” Statistics Canada’s press release stated.”

The fifth racial group with the highest number are Arabs (690,000; 1.9%), followed by Latin Americans (580,000; 1.6%), Southeast Asians (390,000; 1.1%), West Asians (360,000; 1.0%), Koreans (220,000; 0.6%) and the Japanese group (99,000; 0.3%).

The population of each group has continued to grow with each census, it also said.

Filipinos ranked third in the immigrant group that had the highest increase from 2016 to 2021.

South Asians posted the highest growth at 647,000, followed by Blacks (+349,000), Filipinos (+177,000) and Arabs (+171,000).

The Japanese group (+6,000) posted the lowest growth over the same period.

According to Statistics Canada projections, by 2041, South Asians would reach 5 million people, the Chinese and Black populations could each exceed 3 million, and the Filipino population could go over 2 million.

All racial groups in Canada have been growing from 2001 to 2021. Immigration continues to be the main driver of population growth of each racialized group, the report said.

Of the number, 69.3% of the immigrant population in 2021 were racial groups, and the proportion is even higher among recent immigrants who were admitted since 2016 (83.0%). By comparison, the proportion is significantly smaller for non-immigrants (11.4%).

However, for several racial groups, part of their population growth also comes from Canadian-born children. The population of children under the age of 5 born in Canada increased for the West Asian (+39.6%), South Asian (+21.6%), Black (+21.5%), Filipino (+18.7%) and Arab (+14.7%) groups.

Filipinos have a more recent history of immigration to Canada. According to 2021 figures, over 7 in 10 Filipinos in Canada (72.6%) had immigrated in the past 20 years.

Nearly 75 percent of people in the Filipino group were born in the Philippines, while most others were born in Canada (24.7).