SOUTH ASIAN DEMOGRAPHICS

The South Asian population in Canada will be roughly 1.9 million by the year 2010, with a steady growth rate over the next decade.

Their professions are very wide ranging: politicians, business, professors, engineers, doctors, taxi/ lorry drivers and consultants.

75 % are skilled workers and the community is young and vibrant, constantly growing, with over a third of the population under the age of 24.

The average household income of South Asians in Canada is $54,291 and is almost 16 percent higher than the national median household income of $46,752.

In 2006 census South Asian Canadians (including those with origins in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan etc.) overtook people of Chinese origin as Canada’s largest visible minority group.

In 2006 Statistics Canada estimates there were 1.3 million South Asian people in Canada compared with 1.2 million Chinese. In 2001, there were approximately 1 million Chinese Canadians representing 3.5% of the country’s population, followed by South Asians (3.1%) and Black Canadians (2.2%).