Just the Facts
Statistics on non-permanent residents at Statistics Canada

Statistics Canada releases data and analysis on the population of non-permanent residents (NPR) living in the country to measure the impacts of immigration on the state and current trends of the Canadian population, society and economy. These products are developed using various data sources, the main one being the Demographic Estimates Program (DEP).

Who is a non-permanent resident?

Statistics Canada defines the population of NPRs as people from another country with a usual place of residence in Canada. NPRs are included in one of these two groups:

• Work and/or study permit holders, as well as their family members residing with them;
• Asylum claimants, protected persons, and related groups.

Family members of work and/or study permit holders are included in the first NPR group, except if these family members are Canadian citizens, landed immigrants (permanent residents), or NPRs themselves.

Statistics Canada considers work and/or study permit holders who are in the process of renewing their permit with IRCC.

Asylum claimants, protected persons and related groups are all classified within the second group of NPRs:

• An asylum claimant refers to a foreign national who has made a refugee claim while in Canada on a temporary basis and whose claim is pending decision from the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB);
• Protected person refers to a person who has made a claim in Canada and received a positive decision from the IRB;
• Related groups include those who received a negative decision or withdrew or abandoned their claim and have not yet regularized their status or departed Canada.

Estimates for asylum claimants, protected persons and related groups separately are not available.

What is Statistics Canada’s Demographic Estimates Program?

The DEP allows users to monitor the evolution of the size of the population in a timely fashion, on a quarterly basis. Notably, the DEP meets legislative needs, such as the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act. It is also used as the base for the calculation of several demographic, social and economic statistics and indicators, such as life expectancy and crime rates, and to better understand the state and current trends of the Canadian society and economy.

How are Demographic Estimates Program’s estimates of the number of NPRs calculated?

Quarterly estimates of the number of NPRs from Statistics Canada’s DEP are based on Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) administrative data. These data are then processed at Statistics Canada to avoid, for example, double-counting people with many temporary residency permits.

Demographic adjustments are then applied to the data. Statistics Canada adjusts data for work permit holders with an open permit for whom some information is missing to determine their province or territory of residence using census data. Family members of work and/or study permit holders are also modelled using census data because they do not appear in IRCC data on permit holders. Work and/or study permit holders who are in the process of renewing their permit with IRCC are modelled using data disseminated by IRCC on permit renewal processing times

What other data on NPRs are available at Statistics Canada?

Other NPR data are also available at Statistics Canada: the Census of Population, the Longitudinal Immigration Database (IMDB) and some social surveys such as the General Social Survey and the Canadian Survey on Disability.

These data sources are used to meet different objectives. Consequently, they each have their own strengths. The census, conducted every five years, provides granular data at the regional and municipal levels, including on smaller population groups such as NPRs.  The IMDB, which combines tax data with administrative data from Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), makes it possible to do detailed analysis on migration and economic outcomes of NPRs in Canada. Surveys permit the calculation of statistics on various specific demographic, social and economic themes.

Each data source was developed to meet specific needs. It is then important to use caution before making comparisons because they present different numbers. For example, some NPRs may not respond to the census form once every five years, despite Statistics Canada’s best efforts to enumerate all people living in Canada on a usual basis. As a result, the population counts for NPRs coming from the census can be lower than those disseminated on a quarterly basis by the DEP, which is based on IRCC administrative data and demographic models to estimate the number of NPRs.

Tax files, available on a yearly basis in the IMDB, are often used to report on the economic situation and internal migration of NPRs. However, some NPRs don’t file a tax declaration in Canada, for various reasons. As a result, analytical results on NPRs based on tax data cannot be directly compared to those from the census or from the DEP.

Finally, survey data are based on samples that are representative of the whole Canadian population. These surveys are weighted by Statistics Canada, but users must always consider sampling variability that occurs when a sample is taken from a larger population. This can lead to differences in the number of NPRs compared with other data sources.

What are the differences between Statistics Canada data on NPRs and those of IRCC on temporary residents and asylum claimants?

Statistics Canada and IRCC immigration data are computed to meet different goals.

NPR data from Statistics Canada are designed to examine the impacts of immigration on the state and current trends of the Canadian population, society, and the economy.

IRCC data are used to obtain information on the number of work and/or study permits delivered in Canada, or to get information on the number of people with a valid status in Canada. These administrative data are used for planning, development, delivery, surveillance, or evaluation purposes related to different immigration programs, policies, or services.

Statistics Canada’s numbers may differ from those produced by IRCC because of these different objectives. For example, as mentioned previously, demographic adjustments are applied to IRCC administrative data to calculate the estimates of the number of NPRs in Statistics Canada’s DEP.

Where to find statistics on NPRs?

Users looking for data on NPRs living in Canada can follow Statistics Canada links:

• Demographic estimates: estimates of the number of NPRs by province/territory and type on the first day of each quarter;
• The Census of Population: statistics on the socioeconomic characteristics of NPRs for detailed geographical levels;
• The Longitudinal Immigration Database (IMDB): tracks migration and economic outcomes for NPRs.
• Portal on immigrants and non-permanent residents statistics: brings together data, tools and reports on this theme.