Canada Immigration - 350,000 New Immigrants to Be Added By 2021

Keith Ambachtsheer, the director emeritus at the International Centre for Pension Management has emphasized on the urgent requirement for new immigrants in the country, According to him, the country needs immigrations for various reasons. The average age of the Canadian population is rising as life expectancy is increasing and the birth rate is declining. It is predicted that by the year 2040, 25 per cent of the country’s population will be more than 65 years old. This will lead to a lower influx of pension plan contributions from working population and more dole outs as the proportion of retired people to working people will increase.

This year, Canada accepted some 300,000 immigrants, an increase from the roughly 250,000 accepted per year on average during the previous decade. That number is expected to rise even further to 350,000 people per year by 2021

The Pressing Need for Rise in Canada Immigration

There are various factors that indicate the importance of increase in immigration, and its benefit to Canada such as,

Health care

Canada’s fertility rate has reduced from 2.1 children per women to 1.5 children from 1971 to date. On the other hand, the number of people who have reached the age of 100 and above has more than doubled to 10,000 since the year 2001 on account of better quality of life and increased life expectancy, This has led to a disproportion increase in the number of people who are dependent on state benefits without a corresponding increase in the number of people who pay taxes to support social welfare. Increase in the number of immigrants to Canada is therefore one of the most popular and feasible options to help reduce this gap. As the baby boomer generation is retiring in larger numbers each year, we can only expect the lack of balance between people in the workforce and people who are retired to grow and create more pressure on the government. The health care cost for example is expected to rise from 35 percent in 2017 to more than 40 percent in 2040. The Conference Board Data, in its report published on May 2018 has stated that reducing Canada immigration numbers will most definitely lead to an increase in health care costs.

The old age dependency ratio in Canada is four seniors to one working age person. This can lead to a higher tax burden for the working age population. An increase in immigration can also help to mitigate this problem by bringing in more people in the working age population.

Economic growth

According to another report by the conference Board, immigration is the key to economic growth in Canada, and without immigration, the real GDP growth would reduce to 1.1 percent by the year 2040 as businesses would not be able to find enough workers to support increase in production. The study recommends that immigration to the country should be increased by one or more percent each year. This will allow the GDP growth to reach 2 percent.

Though many economists believe immigration has a net positive effect on the economy, it’s very difficult to measure the exact impact because there are so many factors. A number of economists have conducted studies in which they have found that immigrants have a net positive effect on the economy.

Ever since its inception in 2006, Global Tree overseas education ltd has been growing from strength to strength to become the most trusted overseas education and Immigration consultants in India.