Canada Releases 1999 Immigration Statistics

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has recently released its statistics for the 1999 calendar year and, once again, Canada has failed to meet its own quota for immigration.

CIC's target for 1999 provided for up to 225,000 foreign nationals to enter Canada -- either as refugees or as landed immigrants. However, Canada only admitted a total of 189,816 people in 1999. The 1999 numbers represent an
increase from the 174,159 people admitted into Canada in 1998, but a decrease from the 216,014 admitted in 1997.

Interestingly, CIC reported that whereas Hong Kong had been Canada's greatest source of immigrants in the recent past, in 1999 Hong Kong did not even figure in Canada's "top 10" list. Top source countries in 1999 included China (29,095 immigrants, or 15.33% of the national total), India (17,415 - 9.2%) and Pakistan (9,285 - 4.9%).

The most popular destination within Canada was the City of Toronto, Ontario, with 83,267 immigrants, or 43.9% of the national total, settling in Canada's largest metropolis. The second most popular city was Vancouver, with 27,785 newcomers, or 14.6% of the total, relocating there. Next was Montreal, with 23,522 immigrants, or 12.4% of the total, followed by Calgary, with 6,749 immigrants, or 3.6% of the total.