The decline in the citizenship rate among recent immigrants to Canada: Update to 2021

Feng Hou and Garnett Picot

Economic and Social Reports from Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies and Modelling Branch

Abstract: This article examines the trends in citizenship rates among recent immigrants who have been in Canada for five to nine years, based on census data from 1991 to 2021. The citizenship rate among recent immigrants has decreased significantly, dropping from 75.4% in 1996 to 45.7% in 2021, a decline of 29.7 percentage points. Almost half of this decline occurred from 2016 to 2021, with approximately 40% of the most recent decrease possibly related to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. However, even after accounting for the pandemic effect, the citizenship rate declined at a faster rate from 2016 to 2021 than during any other five-year intercensal period since 1996. The decline in citizenship rates among recent immigrants from 1996 to 2021 was larger among those with lower levels of education, lower family income and lower official language skills. The decrease was also more substantial among recent immigrants from East Asia, Southeast Asia and West Asia than among their counterparts from the United States, Western Europe and Southern Europe. This article discusses possible explanations for these trends.

Keywords: immigrants; citizenship; naturalization; education; family income (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J23 M21 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-02-28
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:stc:stcp8e:202400200002e

DOI: 10.25318/36280001202400200002-eng

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