The Canadian census: A rich portrait of the country's religious and ethnocultural diversity

More than 450 ethnic or cultural origins were reported in the 2021 Census. The top origins reported by Canada's population, alone or with other origins, were "Canadian" (5.7 million people), "English" (5.3 million), "Irish" (4.4 million), "Scottish" (4.4 million) and "French" (4.0 million).

In 2021, "Canadian" was the top origin reported, alone or with other origins. Nearly one in six people (15.6%) or 5.7 million persons in Canada reported this origin.

In the 2021 Census, approximately 2.2 million people reported Indigenous ancestry, alone or with other ancestries, representing 6.1% of the population of Canada.

Of these, approximately 1.4 million people reported at least one of 104 First Nations (North American Indian) ancestries, more than half a million (560,000) reported "Métis" ancestry, and 82,000 people reported "Inuit" ancestry.

In 2021, three racialized groups represented 16.1% of Canada's total population: South Asians (2.6 million people; 7.1%), Chinese (1.7 million; 4.7%) and Black people (1.5 million; 4.3%), with each population topping 1 million. In 2016, these groups represented 13.6% of Canada's total population.

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