In 2020, immigration numbers in Canada have seen a significant drop. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Canada witnessed the lowest immigration level since 1998. However, most of the provinces got new immigrants and Canada welcomed a total of 184,000 immigrants while the target was to welcome 341,000 newcomers.
Where did a large number of immigrants settle in Canada? Which provinces were the most-preferred?
Here, on this page, we will analyze the immigration settlement patterns in Canada in 2020 and try to answer these questions.
Canada’s most popular province, Ontario, had low immigration levels in 2020 as the province welcomed only 83,000 new immigrants. However, it has the largest share of the number of newcomers moving to Canada. Almost 45 percent of the newcomers settled in Ontario in 2020.
British Columbia is another popular province among immigrants due to its different immigration streams and a separate immigration pathway for tech workers. Around 30,000 new immigrants moved to British Columbia last year. So, it becomes the second most popular province.
The immigration share of Quebec increased to 14 percent of the total immigration levels. The autonomous province welcomed around 25,000 newcomers. One of the reasons for such a higher increase is that Quebec gets a large number of immigrants through family and refugee class than any other Canadian province.
Further, Alberta is becoming a new popular choice among newcomers. The share of new immigrants immigrating to Alberta is 12.4 percent.
Next on the list are the provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan with a share of 4.7 percent and 4 percent respectively.
And the four Atlantic provinces (PEI, Newfoundland & Labrador, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick) collectively had a share of 4.7 percent.
Evidently, Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec have come out to be the most chosen provinces for immigration in 2020.
