ARCHIVED – Elderly immigrants in Canada: Income sources and self-sufficiency

I. Introduction

In previous analysis of the immigrant population, elderly immigrants arose as a group with a high prevalence of low income individuals. It remained unclear whether these immigrants landed in Canada in an older age group or whether they arrived at a younger age and became part of the elderly group years later. The methodology used in this paper will allow this question to be addressed. Throughout this analysis the elderly population is defined as those aged 60 years or older in a given tax year. The elderly immigrant population is divided into three groups: long-term elders who landed in Canada aged 40-49 years, short-term elders who landed aged 50-59 years, and immediate elders who landed aged 60 years or older.

Using data from the longitudinal Immigrant Database (IMDB) [note 1] this paper builds on two aspects of previous research in this area. First, this paper investigates the demographic characteristics of the three groups of elderly in an attempt to highlight differences that may affect income. The second part of this analysis takes a more in-depth look at the income sources of elderly immigrants in Canada. Generally speaking, individuals with low income are often less self-sufficient and, as a result, may rely more heavily on social transfers. Labour market and retirement income are further disaggregated here to allow for a detailed analysis of reliance on specific income sources, with particular attention given to reliance on social transfers.


1  The IMDB is managed by Statistics Canada on behalf of a Federal-Provincial Consortium led by Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

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