Why Canada Needs Immigration

Canada welcomes a large number of immigrants to maintain a strong economy.

Canada is one of the countries with the highest degree of population aging in the world and also one of the countries with the lowest birth rates. This has created economic and fiscal pressure. Canada's natural population growth rate is low, leading to lower rates of labor force and economic growth. Slow economic growth makes it difficult for Canada to increase taxes to support social spending on services such as education, healthcare, and other important areas that provide a high standard of living for the country.

Therefore, since the late 1980s, Canada has been increasing its immigration levels to boost population, labor force, and economic growth rates. Now, much of Canada's population and labor force growth, as well as a larger proportion of its economic growth, depend on immigration, considering that by 2030, 9 million baby boomers in Canada will reach the retirement age of 65. This means that while healthcare social spending increases, the number of Canadian workers will decrease. To mitigate this challenge, Canada has been actively and progressively increasing immigration targets for over thirty years.

Since 1988, Canada has regularly welcomed over 200,000 immigrants each year. In recent years, Canada has decided to increase the number of immigrants to over 400,000 annually. Canada's immigration rate is currently close to 1.2%. In other words, on a per capita basis, Canada welcomes three times the number of immigrants as the United States.

Given its current population status and immigration trends, Canada is likely to continue gradually increasing its immigration levels in the foreseeable future. Immigration remains crucial for supporting the country's healthy economic and fiscal condition.