Immigrant children are, on average, more successful than Canadian children
The younger your child is when you move, the more likely he or she is to get a college education.
Statistics Canada examined the income tax paid by immigrants for 2019. 70.3% of 20-year-old immigrants who moved to Canada as children indicated that they were pursuing higher education. Among all 20-year-olds in Canada, 58.9% were in higher education in 2019. At age 25, 32.7% of immigrants who moved as children were pursuing higher education. Among all 25-year-olds in Canada, 26.6% were in higher education.
Statistics Canada suggests that this difference between immigrant and Canadian children is due to the fact that immigrants initially have more educated people. The selection criteria for most immigration programs require applicants to have at least a completed high school education in a job in demand and work experience. This theory is supported by the fact that among 20-year-old refugee immigrant children, only 53.9% received a college degree in 2019, less than the national average.
In 2019, 20-year-old children of immigrants earned less than the average Canadian of the same age: only $10,900 CAD. The national average wage for 20-year-olds was $12,900 CAD. By age 25, children of immigrants were earning 11.3 percent more than their peers; by age 30, the difference had grown to 29.3 percent. It is important to keep in mind that this does not apply to refugee children. We are only talking about the children of those immigrants who have been selected according to objective criteria, as people who can contribute to the economic development of Canada.
In a previous analysis of the educational attainment of immigrant children, Statistics Canada tried to find a link between the regions where immigrants came from, their education, employment and income levels.
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