Canada has a reputation among newcomers as a country with a high standard of living, progressive culture, and opportunities.
Still, newcomers may wonder what concrete data supports these sentiments and how Canada compares to other top immigrant destinations worldwide.
The United Nations Human Development Index (HDI) is a helpful resource for finding answers. The Index breaks down multiple factors to deliver a single indexed score of development for each country.
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What is the Human Development Index?
The HDI is a unified index produced by the United Nations (UN) to measure the development of a country. The measure focuses on the idea that the capabilities of people in any given country are the ultimate measure of assessing a nation’s development, “not economic growth alone.”
To this end, the HDI measures the longevity, education, and income of individuals in a country, through the following composite measures:
Longevity measures: life expectancy at birth, and overall score on the UN’s life expectancy index;
Knowledge measures: expected years of schooling, mean years of schooling, and overall score on the UN’s education index; and
Income / Standard of living measures: Gross National Income per capita, and overall score on the UN’s Gross National Income index.
Through an amalgamation of these measures, the UN assigns each country a score between 0 and 1, with 1 denoting the highest possible score of development, and 0 the lowest. The HDI has assigned scores to countries based on these measures since 1990.
According to the index, the following scores denote corresponding levels of development:
HDI scoreIndication of national development
≤0.550Low
0.550-0.699Medium
0.700-0.799High
≥0.800Very high
How does Canada rank on the HDI?
As of the most recent data available (2022), Canada achieves a score of 0.935 on the HDI, indicating a very high degree of development. In 1990, Canada’s HDI score was 0.861, revealing an increase of 0.074 points on the HDI in the 30+ years since data was first reported.
The breakdown of this score by composite measure is presented in the table below, as of 2022 (the most recent year data was available):
Composite measureCanadian statistics
Life expectancy at birth82.8 years
Expected years of schooling15.9 years
Mean years of schooling13.8 years
Gross National Income per Capita$48,444.3 (reported in 2017 Purchasing Power Parity dollars)
In comparison, the world average score on the HDI is 0.739, indicating that Canada places well above the average in terms of being a developed nation.
The highest-ranked country according to the HDI’s most recent reporting is Switzerland, with a score of 0.967, while the lowest-ranked country was Somalia with a score of 0.380.
How does Canada rank against other top immigrant destinations?
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD’s) 2023 international migration outlook, the top five immigration destinations (based on data from 2022) by permanent immigration—excluding Canada—were:
The United States of America (USA);
Germany;
The United Kingdom (UK).;
Spain; and
France.
The following will break down the UN HDI and composite scores for the above countries.
Note: While the HDI is a comprehensive measure of human development, there are multiple factors it does not consider (i.e.: cost-of-living, access to medical services, legal rights and freedoms, etc.).
The United States of America
As of the most recent reporting, the United States achieved an HDI score of 0.927, with the following composite scores.
Composite measureAmerican statistics
Life expectancy at birth78.2 years
Expected years of schooling16.4 years
Mean years of schooling13.5 years
Gross National Income per Capita$65,564.9 (reported in 2017 Purchasing Power Parity dollars)
Germany
As of the most recent reporting, Germany achieved an HDI score of 0.950, with the following composite scores.
Composite measureGerman statistics
Life expectancy at birth80.9 years
Expected years of schooling17.3 years
Mean years of schooling14.2 years
Gross National Income per Capita$55,340.1 (reported in 2017 Purchasing Power Parity dollars)
The United Kingdom
As of the most recent reporting, the United Kingdom achieved an HDI score of 0.940, with the following composite scores.
Composite measureUK statistics
Life expectancy at birth82.1 years
Expected years of schooling17.6 years
Mean years of schooling13.4 years
Gross National Income per Capita$46,623.9 (reported in 2017 Purchasing Power Parity dollars)
Spain
As of the most recent reporting, Spain achieved an HDI score of 0.911 with the following composite scores.
Composite measureSpanish statistics
Life expectancy at birth83.9 years
Expected years of schooling17.8 years
Mean years of schooling10.6 years
Gross National Income per Capita$40,043.3(reported in 2017 Purchasing Power Parity dollars)
France
As of the most recent reporting, France achieved an HDI score of 0.91, with the following composite scores.
Composite measureFrench statistics
Life expectancy at birth83.2 years
Expected years of schooling15.9 years
Mean years of schooling11.6 years
Gross National Income per Capita$47,378.7(reported in 2017 Purchasing Power Parity dollars)
What determines success for newcomers in Canada?
Statistics Canada data suggests that many recent immigrants can have equivalent, if not better, economic outcomes to their Canadian-born counterparts.
A report entitled ” Which immigration selection factors best predict the earnings of economic principal applicants?” analyzed factors assessed in the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS)* to see how they impacted immigrant success in the short (1-2 years), medium (5+ years), and long-term (10+ years).
*The CRS is used by Canada’s federal immigration system to rank economic immigrants based on human capital factors (age, education, language ability). The system assigns a score to each candidate based on these factors, which represents their likelihood to settle and integrate successfully in Canada.
Specifically, the CRS factors tracked were:
Years of pre-landing Canadian work experience (compared to those with no experience);
Ability in official languages (English or French (Native speakers vs. Less proficient);
Age—Younger (25-29 years) VS. Older (50-54 years); and
Education (bachelor’s VS. Secondary school education);
In the short term (1-2 years), the strongest factor impacting immigrant earnings in Canada is pre-landing Canadian work experience (work experience gained before receiving permanent residence (PR) in Canada), with each year of experience leading to an 84% increase in earnings. Language ability also plays a significant role, as immigrants whose mother tongue is neither French nor English, but who speak English earn 29% less than those with a French or English mother tongue. Education is another important factor, with those holding a bachelor’s degree earning 12-24% more than those who did not.
In the medium term (5+ years), pre-landing Canadian work experience remained the strongest predictor of earnings, with each year of experience leading to a 52-59% increase. Language ability continued to impact earnings, with those whose mother tongue is an official language earning 42% more. Age becomes a more important factor, as older immigrants earn 27-35% less than younger ones. Education also has a positive effect, with bachelor’s degree graduates earning 14-21% more.
In the long term (10+ years), pre-landing Canadian work experience continued to influence earnings but to a lesser extent, with each year of experience leading to a 45% increase. Age at landing becomes a critical factor, with younger immigrants earning 44% more than older ones. Language proficiency in an official language also significantly affects earnings, reducing income by 35% for those less proficient. Education has a stronger impact, with a bachelor’s degree resulting in a 23% increase in earnings.
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How does Canada compare to other top immigrant destinations?
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