New information about the population of Canada has been released by Statistics Canada (StatsCan) about Aboriginal people and immigration in Canada. This new data comes from the 2011 National Household Survey (NHS). Data highlights include:
- Approximately 4.3 per cent of people in Canada are Aboriginal, a 20 per cent increase from 2006;
- Nearly one in five people in Canada self-identify as a visible minority or racialized person;
- Thirty per cent of these individuals were born in Canada;
- One in five people in Canada were born outside the country.
StatsCan cautions users about the comparability of NHS data with previous census data given the significant differences in population and methodology.
The Government of Canada introduced the voluntary National Household Survey to replace the mandatory long-form questionnaire of the Canadian census in 2011. The NHS was circulated to approximately 4.5 million households with a response rate of 68.6 per cent.
You can obtain more information and access data from the NHS 2011 on the Statistics Canada website.