Census shows 22.9% of Windsor's population is immigrants

Census figures released Wednesday show 22.9 per cent of Windsor's population is immigrants.

• Census 2016 shows more immigrants, visible minorities and Indigenous people

• Métis make up more than half of Windsor-Essex's growing Indigenous population

Of that population, 3.1 per cent came to the area between 2011 and 2016.

Those numbers reflect Windsor's "census metropolitan area," which includes the City of Windsor, Amherstburg, Lakeshore, LaSalle and Tecumseh.

Where did people settle?

The census breaks down where immigrants have settled in specific municipalities of the region. 

In the City of Windsor, 27.8 per cent of the population were immigrants, and 4.3 per cent of them had settled between 2011 and 2016. 

LaSalle's immigrants made up 17 per cent of the town's population, and 1.2 per cent of them had settled between 2011 and 2016

Numbers were similar for Tecumseh, which had a 17.4 per cent immigrant population, with 0.8 per cent arriving between 2011 and 2016.

In Lakeshore, 10.7 per cent of the population were immigrants, and 0.5 per cent settled in recent years.

For Amherstburg, 9.2 per cent of the population were immigrants, and 0.4 per cent settled in recent years. 

Where did people come from?

Of the recent immigrants who came to the Windsor-Essex region between 2011 and 2016, the census outlines where they were born.

The largest group came from Iraq, representing 20.2 per cent of recent immigrants.

The second largest group were from Syria, at 10.5 per cent.

In third place was the United States, making up 8.6 per cent of recent immigrants.

China and India tied for fourth place, both representing 7.9 per cent of the population.

Windsor versus Canada

Nationally, the percentage of the population that reported being or having been an immigrant or permanent resident, was 21.9 per cent, the highest level in 85 years.

The 2016 census data places Windsor 11th overall in Canada for the highest percentage of immigrants.

The city's immigrant population of 74,495 represents one per cent of the country's overall number of foreign-born residents.