‹ Canada profile

Migration impact

🇨🇦 Canada

A plain-language summary of who arrives, who leaves, and what the government spends on migration in Canada. Every headline figure is a reported value from an official source — nothing is estimated.

At a glance

Headline figures

2,037,430 Total incoming People arrived, all recorded years
2,359 Total outgoing People left, all recorded years
+2,035,071 Net balance Net inflow
$8.8B Spent on migrants · 2024 0.39% of GDP
Trend

Incoming vs outgoing, by year

Arrivals compared with departures for each reported year. Use the selector to read the exact figures for a single year.

727,655 Incoming
575 Outgoing
+727,080 Net that year
Public expenditure

What the government spends on migrants

Migration-related public spending (refugee support and development assistance provided) in current US dollars. For donor countries this includes in-donor refugee costs.

$8.8B Total spending · 2024 Reported migration-related expenditure
0.39% Share of GDP About $0.39 of every $100 of national output
For perspective

What $8.8B could otherwise fund

The same amount, spent on other public services, using round benchmark unit costs. These are illustrative comparisons to convey scale — not an actual budget or policy proposal.

17 top-tier hospitals A large modern referral hospital (~$500M each).
73 general hospitals A mid-size general hospital (~$120M each).
29 university campuses A new university campus (~$300M each).
879 kilometres of motorway One kilometre of modern motorway (~$10M).
1,758 well-equipped schools A brand-new fully equipped school (~$5M each).
2,931 public libraries A community public library (~$3M each).
5,863 kindergartens A new kindergarten / nursery (~$1.5M each).
35,179 fully equipped ambulances A new fully equipped ambulance (~$250k each).
58,632 affordable homes A modest new affordable home (~$150k each).
97,720 doctor-years of salary One doctor employed for a full year (~$90k).
159,906 nurse-years of salary One nurse employed for a full year (~$55k).
195,440 teacher-years of salary One teacher employed for a full year (~$45k).
439,742 university scholarships A full one-year university scholarship (~$20k).
732,903 hospital beds for a year Running one hospital bed for a year (~$12k).
3,664,516 annual pension top-ups An extra $200/month for a pensioner for a year.
14,658,066 laptops for students One laptop for a school student (~$600 each).