Total population | |
---|---|
(South Asian Canadians |
|
Regions with significant populations | |
Southern Ontario · Lower Mainland British Columbia · Most urban areas | |
Languages | |
Canadian English · Canadian French · South Asian languages | |
Religion | |
Sikhism · Hinduism · Islam · Christianity · Jainism · Buddhism | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Asian Canadians · British Asian · South Asian people |
(South Asian Canadians
1,660,931 (4.9% of the Canadian population)
South Asian Canadians refers to Canadians who were either born in or can trace their ancestry to South Asia, which includes nations such as India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal. In Canadian English usage, the term 'Asian' alone refers to people descended from East Asia and Southeast Asia. The term South Asian Canadian is a subgroup of Asian Canadian and, according to Statistics Canada, can further be divided by nationality, such as Indo-Canadian, Bangladeshi Canadian and Pakistani Canadian, or by ethnicity, such as Tamil Canadian and Gujarati Canadian.
As of 2011, 1,615,145 Canadians had South Asian geographical origins, constituting 4.9% of the Canadian population and 32% of Canada's Asian Canadian population. This makes them the largest visible minority group in Canada, followed by Chinese and Black Canadians respectively. The following year of 2012, 45,000 migrants from South Asia emigrated to Canada, this brings the total population originating from South Asia to 1,660,931. A quarter of the visible minority population in Canada is from South Asia. The largest communities from South Asia are found in Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta. Metropolitan areas with large communities from South Asia include Toronto (834,000), Vancouver (252,000), Calgary (85,000), Montréal (79,000) and Edmonton (61,000).