This statistic shows the number of refugee claimants in Canada from 2000 to 2023. In 2023, there were 143,770 refugee claimants in Canada.

Temporary residents in the humanitarian population who request refugee protection upon or after arrival in Canada. This data should not be used as an indication of the number of asylum claimants residing in a province or territory. The table pulls data on number of asylum claimants who have submit a valid claim by year and province of claim. The data set may include individuals who have claimed asylum and since obtained a referral to the IRB, individuals who have been determined to be protected persons by IRPA, as well as those who may have since become a permanent resident may still be included in the claimant count in the year in which their asylum claim was made. Please note that in these datasets, the figures have been suppressed or rounded to prevent the identification of individuals when the datasets are compiled and compared with other publicly available statistics. Values between 0 and 5 are shown as “--“ and all other values are rounded to the nearest multiple of 5. This may result to the sum of the figures not equating to the totals indicated.

Canada CA: Refugee Population: by Country or Territory of Asylum data was reported at 169,448.000 Person in 2023. This records an increase from the previous number of 140,621.000 Person for 2022. Canada CA: Refugee Population: by Country or Territory of Asylum data is updated yearly, averaging 115,267.500 Person from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2023, with 64 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 186,555.000 Person in 1994 and a record low of 9,980.000 Person in 1965. Canada CA: Refugee Population: by Country or Territory of Asylum data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Canada – Table CA.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Refugees are people who are recognized as refugees under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, the 1969 Organization of African Unity Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa, people recognized as refugees in accordance with the UNHCR statute, people granted refugee-like humanitarian status, and people provided temporary protection. Asylum seekers--people who have applied for asylum or refugee status and who have not yet received a decision or who are registered as asylum seekers--are excluded. Palestinian refugees are people (and their descendants) whose residence was Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948 and who lost their homes and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict. Country of asylum is the country where an asylum claim was filed and granted.;United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and UNRWA through UNHCR's Refugee Data Finder at https://www.unhcr.org/refugee-statistics/.;Sum;

Resettled refugees who arrived in Canada as part of the Government of Canada's Refugee and Humanitarian Resettlement Program. Datasets include resettled refugees who have received settlement services. Please note that in these datasets, the figures have been suppressed or rounded to prevent the identification of individuals when the datasets are compiled and compared with other publicly available statistics. Values between 0 and 5 are shown as “--“ and all other values are rounded to the nearest multiple of 5. This may result to the sum of the figures not equating to the totals indicated. Please note that the datasets will not be updated.

In 2022, a total of than 16,415 refugee claimants in Canada came from Mexico, the most out of any country. Haiti, Turkey, Colombia, and Iran rounded out the top five countries for refugee claimants in Canada in that year.

Canada CA: Refugee Population: by Country or Territory of Origin data was reported at 223.000 Person in 2023. This records an increase from the previous number of 186.000 Person for 2022. Canada CA: Refugee Population: by Country or Territory of Origin data is updated yearly, averaging 71.000 Person from Dec 1991 (Median) to 2023, with 33 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 530.000 Person in 2007 and a record low of 5.000 Person in 2001. Canada CA: Refugee Population: by Country or Territory of Origin data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Canada – Table CA.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Refugees are people who are recognized as refugees under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, the 1969 Organization of African Unity Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa, people recognized as refugees in accordance with the UNHCR statute, people granted refugee-like humanitarian status, and people provided temporary protection. Asylum seekers--people who have applied for asylum or refugee status and who have not yet received a decision or who are registered as asylum seekers--are excluded. Palestinian refugees are people (and their descendants) whose residence was Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948 and who lost their homes and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict. Country of origin generally refers to the nationality or country of citizenship of a claimant.;United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Refugee Data Finder at https://www.unhcr.org/refugee-statistics/.;Sum;

In 2023, in Quebec, most refugee claims were made by people between the ages of 30 and 44, indeed that year, there were more than 23,000 claims from people that age. There were also an important number of requests from people aged 15 to 29.

Between the third quarter of 2017 and the end of 2023, the number of refugee claims made by irregular border crossers decreased overall. Meanwhile, the number of rejected claims has fluctuated more sporadically. It increased from 575 during the third quarter of 2018 to more than 2,000 during the second quarter of 2019, but only 66 applications had been rejected during the second quarter of 2020. However, during this early pandemic period, few applications had been made.

Historical dataset showing Canada refugee statistics by year from 1960 to 2023.

Asylum Applications in Canada decreased to 10360 Persons in August from 12490 Persons in July of 2025. This dataset provides - Canada Asylum Applications- actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

Income of asylum claimants, by sex, age group, birth area, residency status, claim year, and tax year, for Canada and provinces, 2022 constant dollars.

Family composition of Syrian refugees who arrived in Canada as part of the Government of Canada's commitment to resettle Syrian refugees. Please note that in these datasets, the figures have been suppressed or rounded to prevent the identification of individuals when the datasets are compiled and compared with other publicly available statistics. Values between 0 and 5 are shown as “--“ and all other values are rounded to the nearest multiple of 5. This may result to the sum of the figures not equating to the totals indicated. Please note that the datasets will not be updated.

Graph and download economic data for Refugee Population by Country or Territory of Asylum for Canada (SMPOPREFGCAN) from 1960 to 2023 about refugee, Canada, World, and population.

This statistic shows the number of refugees in Canada admitted to permanent resident status from 2015 to 2023, by country of origin. There were 139,790 refugees in Canada admitted to permanent resident status in 2023 from India.

Syrian refugees who have arrived in Canada as part of the Government of Canada's commitment to resettle Syrian refugees. Datasets include Syrian refugees who have received settlement services. Please note that in these datasets, the figures have been suppressed or rounded to prevent the identification of individuals when the datasets are compiled and compared with other publicly available statistics. Values between 0 and 5 are shown as “--“ and all other values are rounded to the nearest multiple of 5. This may result to the sum of the figures not equating to the totals indicated. Please note that the datasets will not be updated.

Many refugee claims in Canada originate from people running away from countries presented as countries of persecution. Between 2017 and the end of 2023, the country from which the largest share of these asylum claims originated was Haiti. In addition, more than ** percent of them originated from Nigeria.

DEPRECATION NOTICE

⚠️ This project is deprecated and is no longer being maintained or monitored. The project has been transferred from the Refugee Law Lab to Access to Algorithmic Justice. For the current a2aj.ca version, please see:

Access methods for all Canadian Legal Data Hugging Face access to Canadian Case Law Hugging Face access to Canadian Laws

  Refugee Law Lab: Canadian Legal Data






  Dataset Summary

The Refugee Law Lab supports bulk open-access to… See the full description on the dataset page: https://huggingface.co/datasets/refugee-law-lab/canadian-legal-data.

This table provides quarterly estimates of the number of non-permanent residents by type for Canada, provinces and territories.

People who have been granted permanent resident status in Canada. Please note that in these datasets, the figures have been suppressed or rounded to prevent the identification of individuals when the datasets are compiled and compared with other publicly available statistics. Values between 0 and 5 are shown as “--“ and all other values are rounded to the nearest multiple of 5. This may result to the sum of the figures not equating to the totals indicated.

Resettled refugees who arrived in Canada as part of the Government of Canada's Refugee and Humanitarian Resettlement Program. Datasets include admissions of Syrian refugees.

Please note that in these datasets, the figures have been suppressed or rounded to prevent the identification of individuals when the datasets are compiled and compared with other publicly available statistics. Values between 0 and 5 are shown as “--“ and all other values are rounded to the nearest multiple of 5. This may result to the sum of the figures not equating to the totals indicated.

Please note that the datasets will not be updated.