June 2025
Spotlight on data and research
Recent Changes in Canadian-resident travel to the United States
In 2024, Canadian-resident trips to the United States totaled 39 million, representing 75% of all Canadian-resident travel abroad. Recent data shows that Canadians automobile travel to the United States has fallen significantly, with five consecutive months of year-over-year declines. This article found that in May 2025, return trips by automobile declined by 38.1% on a year over year basis, dropping further below the 35.2% decline recorded in April. This trend of declines marked the first time since early 2021, when COVID-19 restrictions were still in place, that Canadian-resident return trips by automobile from the United States declined.
Same-day travel to the United States by automobile also dropped abruptly at the start of 2025, after holding consistently positive throughout 2024. Same-day returns fell by 40.3% year over year in May 2025, marking a fourth consecutive month of steep decline, while overnight travel decreased by 34.3%.
Estimating immigrant citizenship rates in Canada and the United States: Data sources and comparability issues
This article explores the feasibility of using two U.S. data sources to reliably compare naturalization levels and trends with those in Canada. The article demonstrates that the two key U.S. data sources—the American Community Survey (ACS) and lawful permanent resident (LPR) data—produce markedly different citizenship rates and trends due to substantial differences in their base populations. The ACS includes legal temporary residents and undocumented migrants who are not eligible for naturalization, while the LPR data cover all individuals granted permanent residency, regardless of whether they currently reside in the United States.
As a result, citizenship rates derived from these U.S. sources are not directly comparable with Canadian estimates, which are based on eligible permanent residents observed in the census or the Longitudinal Immigration Database.
Insights
Estimates of gross domestic product in wildfire-affected areas during the 2023 and 2024 wildfire seasons
The 2023 wildfire season was the largest ever recorded by land area affected, and the 2024 season was the second largest in two decades. Given the changing climate, wildfire risk will likely continue to increase into the future; therefore, it is critical to understand the potential economic effects of wildfires. To that end, Statistics Canada researchers have developed new experimental estimates of gross domestic product (GDP) by square kilometre in Canada to measure economic activity at risk, but not necessarily impacted, in communities that face mass evacuations.
In this paper, the value of production (defined here as GDP of business sector industries at production sites) in areas that were directly affected by wildfires in 2023 was assessed across Canada, and in the Jasper area in 2024. While gross domestic product at risk of being affected by the 2023 wildfire season appears low when measured at the national level, a localized analysis reveals that the effects on local economies are much more pronounced, underscoring the importance of geographic scale in interpreting the economic impact of natural disasters.
Children with long-term conditions or disabilities: Why some are not in non-parental child care
This study explores the potential barriers to participating in non-parental child care among children aged 0 to 5 with long-term conditions or disabilities.
A shortage of places or waitlists (34%) was the most frequently reported reason for not using child care among non-users whose parents looked for child care for their children with long-term conditions or disabilities. While child care availability in the community was the most frequently reported difficulty among both users (66%) and non-users whose parents looked for child care (61%), finding affordable and subsidized child care (54% and 43%, respectively) emerged as distinct difficulties among non-users whose parents looked for child care. Compared with child care users, non-users appeared to be at a socioeconomic disadvantage (e.g., low-income families, parents with lower educational attainment).
Overall, in 2023, availability and affordability remained as potential barriers to participating in child care among non-users whose parents looked for child care.
Research article
Intellectual property in the context of firms’ exit strategies: The role of patents
While most business closures can be the direct result of small and medium-sized enterprises’ failure to compete in a private market, when exits involve intellectual property (IP), IP may play a double role. This study explores how IP can be a valuable asset to attract investors, and secure financing, but can also be a very attractive asset for established businesses to acquire, accelerating exit from the market through mergers and acquisitions.
The study found that firms that patent are more likely to be larger, to perform research and development, export their products, and be alive seven years after entry relative to businesses that do not patent. Furthermore, having a patent is likely to delay exit by increasing the probability for a business to be alive seven years after entry by 4.5%. However, the effect of patents on mergers and acquisitions was found to be positive but not significant.
Citizenship and the economic outcomes of immigrants in Canada
Immigrants who obtain citizenship in their new country often gain enhanced legal status, expanded rights, increased political and civic engagement, and a stronger sense of belonging. However, research remains limited on whether citizenship itself leads to improved labour market outcomes. This study, explored whether Canadian citizenship is associated with better economic outcomes and if acquiring citizenship directly improves labour market performance.
Among immigrants who were admitted from 2003 to 2012 and aged 25 to 54 at admission, those who acquired citizenship (were naturalized) by 2023 had considerably higher employment and earnings than non-naturalized immigrants. For instance, five years after admission, naturalized immigrant men earned 31% annually more than their non-naturalized counterparts.
Naturalized immigrants already had better economic outcomes than non-naturalized immigrants even before acquiring citizenship. Their economic trajectories changed little in the years immediately before and after naturalization, suggesting that unmeasured characteristics, such as motivation and skills, may drive both naturalization and economic success.
Related publications
Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series
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