Which provinces immigrants settled in in 2020

Although the pandemic has had a major impact on immigration, the favored provinces have not lost their positions.

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, immigration to Canada last year fell to its lowest level since 1998. As a result, Canada welcomed just over 184,000 new immigrants, well short of the expected 341,000 newcomers.

In terms of immigration, the year 2020 got off to a very strong start. But travel restrictions and other factors related to COVID-19 caused a decline in immigration inflows as early as the beginning of March.

Every province and territory was affected. However, the pandemic did not affect immigrant settlement patterns.

Immigration to Canada's largest province, Ontario, has almost halved to nearly 83,000 in 2020, or 45% of all new immigrants.

British Columbia remained the second largest province by number of newcomers, receiving just under 30,000 immigrants, or 15% of the country's total immigrant population.

Number of new immigrants by province and territory in 2020		% of the total number of immigrants
Canada as a whole	184 370	100
Ontario	82 850	44,9
British Columbia	28 470	15,4
Quebec	25 195	13,7
Alberta	22 935	12,4
Manitoba	8 620	4,7
Saskatchewan	7 390	4
Nova Scotia	3 505	1,9
New Brunswick	2 890	1,6
Prince Edward Island	1 290	0,7
Newfoundland and Labrador	905	0,5
Yukon	175	0,1
Northwest Territories	125	0,1
Nunavut	20	0