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Facts and figures 2008 – Immigration overview:
Permanent and temporary residents

Permanent residents

Canada – Permanent residents by category and language ability

Number
Language ability 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
English 23,936 26,188 29,302 23,406 28,164 32,859 33,387 35,630 35,847 37,678
French 2,119 2,242 2,227 1,778 1,975 2,385 2,535 2,903 2,639 3,002
Both French and English 1,100 1,462 1,784 1,371 1,867 2,510 2,513 2,727 2,908 2,994
Neither 28,121 30,724 33,482 35,735 33,106 24,507 24,926 29,248 24,838 21,893
Family class 55,276 60,616 66,795 62,290 65,112 62,261 63,361 70,508 66,232 65,567
English 34,711 39,554 41,047 35,887 28,254 30,737 36,215 34,650 33,200 39,333
French 2,367 2,678 3,350 3,596 2,536 2,392 2,493 2,598 2,721 2,757
Both French and English 4,328 5,631 7,600 8,306 9,126 12,348 12,367 12,425 13,510 13,904
Neither 5,887 10,230 13,279 10,432 11,307 9,704 10,543 6,049 4,391 5,308
Economic immigrants – p.a.* 47,293 58,093 65,276 58,221 51,223 55,181 61,618 55,722 53,822 61,302
English 23,675 28,387 32,651 27,256 22,018 29,817 38,386 37,966 36,061 44,762
French 2,329 2,767 3,467 3,336 2,926 3,305 3,602 3,609 3,926 4,381
Both French and English 1,521 1,976 2,854 2,896 3,758 5,713 6,143 5,883 6,308 6,689
Neither 34,432 45,067 51,470 46,154 41,121 39,732 46,563 35,072 31,127 31,938
Economic immigrants – s.d.** 61,957 78,197 90,442 79,642 69,823 78,567 94,694 82,530 77,422 87,770
English 9,818 13,439 11,751 9,809 10,861 15,807 19,791 16,968 13,123 9,481
French 2,675 2,665 2,284 1,715 1,879 2,364 2,705 2,634 2,496 1,695
Both French and English 685 830 801 905 1,041 1,776 1,622 883 730 609
Neither 11,219 13,158 13,083 12,687 12,203 12,740 11,658 12,014 11,606 10,075
Refugees 24,397 30,092 27,919 25,116 25,984 32,687 35,776 32,499 27,955 21,860
English 478 277 144 3,139 7,501 5,489 5,259 7,912 8,977 8,794
French 49 15 2 208 656 856 730 818 1,042 858
Both French and English 12 16 4 241 454 261 365 739 649 431
Neither 492 152 56 192 594 523 436 913 654 659
Other immigrants 1,031 460 206 3,780 9,205 7,129 6,790 10,382 11,322 10,742
English 92,618 107,845 114,895 99,497 96,798 114,709 133,038 133,126 127,208 140,048
French 9,539 10,367 11,330 10,633 9,972 11,302 12,065 12,562 12,824 12,693
Both French and English 7,646 9,915 13,043 13,719 16,246 22,608 23,010 22,657 24,105 24,627
Neither 80,151 99,331 111,370 105,200 98,331 87,206 94,126 83,296 72,616 69,873
Category not stated 0 0 1 0 1 0 2 2 1 2
Total 189,954 227,458 250,639 229,049 221,348 235,825 262,241 251,643 236,754 247,243
Percentage distribution
Language ability 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
English 43.3 43.2 43.9 37.6 43.3 52.8 52.7 50.5 54.1 57.5
French 3.8 3.7 3.3 2.9 3.0 3.8 4.0 4.1 4.0 4.6
Both French and English 2.0 2.4 2.7 2.2 2.9 4.0 4.0 3.9 4.4 4.6
Neither 50.9 50.7 50.1 57.4 50.8 39.4 39.3 41.5 37.5 33.4
Family class 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
English 73.4 68.1 62.9 61.6 55.2 55.7 58.8 62.2 61.7 64.2
French 5.0 4.6 5.1 6.2 5.0 4.3 4.0 4.7 5.1 4.5
Both French and English 9.2 9.7 11.6 14.3 17.8 22.4 20.1 22.3 25.1 22.7
Neither 12.4 17.6 20.3 17.9 22.1 17.6 17.1 10.9 8.2 8.7
Economic immigrants – p.a.* 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
English 38.2 36.3 36.1 34.2 31.5 38.0 40.5 46.0 46.6 51.0
French 3.8 3.5 3.8 4.2 4.2 4.2 3.8 4.4 5.1 5.0
Both French and English 2.5 2.5 3.2 3.6 5.4 7.3 6.5 7.1 8.1 7.6
Neither 55.6 57.6 56.9 58.0 58.9 50.6 49.2 42.5 40.2 36.4
Economic immigrants – s.d.** 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
English 40.2 44.7 42.1 39.1 41.8 48.4 55.3 52.2 46.9 43.4
French 11.0 8.9 8.2 6.8 7.2 7.2 7.6 8.1 8.9 7.8
Both French and English 2.8 2.8 2.9 3.6 4.0 5.4 4.5 2.7 2.6 2.8
Neither 46.0 43.7 46.9 50.5 47.0 39.0 32.6 37.0 41.5 46.1
Refugees 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
English 46.4 60.2 69.9 83.0 81.5 77.0 77.5 76.2 79.3 81.9
French 4.8 3.3 1.0 5.5 7.1 12.0 10.8 7.9 9.2 8.0
Both French and English 1.2 3.5 1.9 6.4 4.9 3.7 5.4 7.1 5.7 4.0
Neither 47.7 33.0 27.2 5.1 6.5 7.3 6.4 8.8 5.8 6.1
Other immigrants 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
English 48.8 47.4 45.8 43.4 43.7 48.6 50.7 52.9 53.7 56.6
French 5.0 4.6 4.5 4.6 4.5 4.8 4.6 5.0 5.4 5.1
Both French and English 4.0 4.4 5.2 6.0 7.3 9.6 8.8 9.0 10.2 10.0
Neither 42.2 43.7 44.4 45.9 44.4 37.0 35.9 33.1 30.7 28.3
Category not stated 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

*p.a. = principal applicants
**s.d. = spouses and dependants

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Canada – Permanent residents by category and language ability, 2008 (showing percentage distribution)
Permanent residents by category and language ability

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Date Modified: 2009-08-25

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