Canada plans to welcome half a million immigrants by 2025

Canadian Immigration Minister Sean Fraser announced, on Tuesday, that Canada will strengthen its immigration goals, expressing hope to receive record numbers of new arrivals to address the problem of labor shortage in the country.
“Canada needs more people,” Frazier said during a news conference.
A large segment of the population in Canada is heading to retirement age, according to recent population statistics, the age of each person out of seven in Canada ranges between 55 and 64 years.
Canadian companies are also facing the biggest employment crisis ever, with 1 million job vacancies registered in March.
“Canadians understand the need to continue to grow our population if we are to meet our workforce needs,” Fraser added.
Last year, Canada welcomed more than 405,000 immigrants, the largest number ever in a single year. Fraser indicated that the government hopes to reach 431,000 immigrants this year.
The Canadian government also modified its goals for the next year by raising the expected increase in arrivals to 465,000 immigrants, 485,000 immigrants in 2024, and 500,000 immigrants in 2025.
A total of 1.3 million new immigrants settled in Canada between 2016 and 2021.
By 2025, the goal will be for more than 60 percent of all admissions to be economic immigrants, Fraser said. Canada also aims to reunite more families faster, but is taking in fewer refugees.
According to the 2021 census, Canada’s population grew to 39 million, and one person in every four was born abroad.