Canada’s Comparison To Other Top Immigrant Destinations
Canada is a popular nation offering high living standards, a progressive culture, work opportunities, etc. Still, newcomers might wonder what concrete data supports these sentiments. So, here’s Canada’s comparison to other top immigrant destinations.
Well, the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI) is a helpful resource for finding answers. The Index breaks down multiple factors to deliver a single indexed development score for each country.
What Is The Human Development Index?
The HDI is a unified index produced by the United Nations to measure the development of a nation. The measure focuses on the idea that the capabilities of people in any given nation are the ultimate measure of assessing a nation’s development, not just the economic growth alone.
To this end, the HDI measures the longevity, education, and income of individuals in the country through the following composite measures:
- Longevity Measures: Life expectancy at birth and overall score on the UN’s life expectancy index.
- Knowledge Measures: Expected years of schooling, mean years of schooling and overall score on the UN’s education index.
- Standard Of Living Measures: Gross National Income per capita and overall score on the UN’s Gross National Income Index.
Through an amalgamation of these measures, the UN assigns each nation a score between 0 and 1, with 1 denoting the highest possible development score and 0 the lowest. The HDI has assigned scores to nations based on these measures since 1990.
According to the Index, the following scores denote corresponding levels of development:
| HDI Score | Indication Of National Development |
| ≤0.550 | Low |
| 0.550 – 0.699 | Medium |
| 0.700 – 0.799 | High |
| ≥0.800 | Very High |
How Does Canada Rank On The HDI?
Before we move ahead with Canada’s comparison to other top immigrant destinations, it is important to know where Canada stands on the HDI.
As of the most recent data available, Canada achieves a score of 0.935 on the HDI, indicating a very high degree of development. In 1990, Canada’s HDI score was 0.861, revealing an increase of 0.074 points in the 30+ years since the data was first reported.
The breakdown of this score by composite measure is presented in the table below as of 2022:
| Composite Measure | Canadian Statistics |
| Life Expectancy At Birth | 82.8 Years |
| Expected Years Of Schooling | 15.9 Years |
| Mean Years Of Schooling | 13.8 Years |
| Gross National Income Per Capita | $48,444.3 (reported in 2017 Purchasing Power Parity dollars) |
In comparison, the world average score on the HDI is 0.739. This indicates that Canada is a developed nation well above the average.
The highest-ranked nation according to the HDI’s most recent reporting is Switzerland, with a score of 0.967, while the lowest-ranked nation was Somalia with a score of 0.380.
How Does Canada Rank Against Other Top Immigrant Destinations?
Canada’s comparison to other top immigrant destinations is integral to knowing where Canada stands.
Well, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development 2023 international migration outlook, the top five immigration destinations by permanent immigration – excluding Canada were:
- The United States Of America
- Germany
- The United Kingdom
- Spain
- France
The following will summarize the UN HDI and composite scores for the above nations.
Note: While the HDI is a comprehensive measure of human development, it does not consider multiple factors. The factors include cost of living, access to medical services, legal rights and freedoms, etc.
The United States Of America
The first nation in Canada’s comparison to other top immigrant destinations is the United States Of America.
As of the most recent reporting, the United States achieved an HDI score of 0.927, with the following composite scores.
| Composite Measure | American Statistics |
| Life Expectancy At Birth | 78.2 Years |
| Expected Years Of Schooling | 16.4 Years |
| Mean Years Of Schooling | 13.5 Years |
| Gross National Income Per Capita | $65,564.9 (reported in 2017 Purchasing Power Parity dollars) |
Germany
As of the most recent reporting, Germany achieved an HDI score of 0.950 with the following composite scores.
| Composite Measure | German Statistics |
| Life Expectancy At Birth | 80.9 Years |
| Expected Years Of Schooling | 17.3 Years |
| Mean Years Of Schooling | 14.2 Years |
| Gross National Income Per Capita | $55,340.1 (reported in 2017 Purchasing Power Parity dollars) |
The United Kingdom
As of the most recent reporting, the United Kingdom obtained an HDI score of 0.940, with the following composite scores.
| Composite Measure | UK Statistics |
| Life Expectancy At Birth | 82.1 Years |
| Expected Years Of Schooling | 17.6 Years |
| Mean Years Of Schooling | 13.4 Years |
| Gross National Income Per Capita | $46,623.9 (reported in 2017 Purchasing Power Parity dollars) |
Spain
According to the recent reporting, Spain got an HDI score of 0.911, with the following composite scores.
| Composite Measure | Spanish Statistics |
| Life Expectancy At Birth | 83.9 Years |
| Expected Years Of Schooling | 17.8 Years |
| Mean Years Of Schooling | 10.6 Years |
| Gross National Income Per Capita | $40,043.3 (reported in 2017 Purchasing Power Parity dollars) |
France
According to the most recent reporting, France obtained an HDI score of 0.91, with the following composite scores.
| Composite Measure | French Statistics |
| Life Expectancy At Birth | 83.2 Years |
| Expected Years Of Schooling | 15.9 Years |
| Mean Years Of Schooling | 11.6 Years |
| Gross National Income Per Capita | $47,378.7 (reported in 2017 Purchasing Power Parity dollars) |
What Determines The Success Of Newcomers In Canada?
Statistics Canada data suggests that many recent immigrants can have equivalent economic outcomes to their Canadian-born counterparts.
A report entitled ‘Which Immigration Selection Factors Best Predict The Earnings Of Economic Principal Applicants?’ analyzed factors assessed in the CRS to see how they affected immigrant success in the short (1-2 years), medium (5+ years), and long-term (10+ years).
Note that Canada’s federal immigration system uses the CRS to rank economic immigrants based on human capital factors. The system assigns a score to each applicant based on these factors. It represents their likelihood of settling and integrating successfully in Canada.
Particularly, the CRS factors tracked were:
- Years of pre-landing Canadian work experience
- Ability in official languages (English or French Native Speakers v/s Less Proficient)
- Age – Younger (25-29 years) v/s Older (50-54 years)
- Education (bachelor v/s Secondary school education)
In the short term (1-2 years), the strongest factor impacting immigrant earnings in Canada is pre-landing Canadian work experience, with each year of experience leading to an 84% increase in earnings. Language ability also plays an integral role, as immigrants whose mother tongue is neither French nor English but who speak English earn 29% less than those with a French or English mother tongue. Education is another significant factor, with those holding a bachelor’s degree earning 12-24% more than those who did not.
In the medium term (5+ years), pre-landing Canadian work experience remained the strongest predictor of earnings, with each year of experience leading to a 52-59% increase. Language ability continued to impact earnings, with those whose mother tongue is an official language earning 42% more. Ages became a more significant factor, as older immigrants earned over 27-35% less than younger ones. Education also has a positive effect, with bachelor’s degree graduates earning 14 -21% more.
In the long term (10+ years), pre-landing Canadian work experience continued to influence earnings but to a lesser extent. Age at landing becomes a critical factor, with younger immigrants earning 44% more than older ones. Also, language proficiency in an official language also significantly affects earnings, reducing income by 35% for those less proficient. Education has a stronger impact, with a bachelor’s degree resulting in a 23% increase in earnings.
If you seek information on how to begin your Canada immigration application process, you can talk to our NavaImmigration experts at 1800-918-8490. You can also drop us an email at [email protected].
