Immigration in Canada: A Portrait of the Foreign-born Population, 2006 Census: Portraits of major metropolitan centres

Hamilton: Third-highest proportion of foreign-born in the country

Behind Toronto and Vancouver, Hamilton's foreign-born population of 24.4% was the third highest in 2006 in Canada. This proportion is above the national level of 19.8% and was higher than Hamilton's proportion of 23.6% in 2001.

Between 2001 and 2006, the foreign-born population increased by 7.7%, while the total population of the Hamilton census metropolitan area (CMA) grew by 4.3%. The growth of the foreign-born population was below the 13.6% national growth rate.

The share of Canada's recent immigrants who settle in Hamilton has remained unchanged since 2001 at 1.9%. Hamilton was home to 20,800 immigrants who arrived in Canada between 2001 and 2006. One-half of them were born in Asia and the Middle East, while nearly one-quarter (23%) were from Europe.

The vast majority of newcomers in the Hamilton CMA reported knowledge of English (85.7%). However, 7.2% could not speak either official language. This proportion is below the 9.3% of recent immigrants in Canada who reported no knowledge of either English or French.

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