Comparative demographic effects of Canadian–U.S. immigration flows

Abstract

A joint study by Statistics Canada and the U.S. Bureau of the Census examines special tabulations of U.S. residents born in Canada from the 1980 census of the United States and compares them with matching tabulations of Canadian residents born in the United States from the 1981 census of Canada. As might be expected, the two populations are remarkably similar and the preponderance of the migration flow is from Canada to the United States. The comparative social and economic characteristics of the two migrant stocks show the effects of increasing legal restrictions on migration between the two countries in the last two decades. The characteristics of the migrant flows have changed from large, unregulated population movements responding to economic motivations similar to internal migration flows to a much smaller, highly controlled movement more typical of long-distance international migration flows. The conduct of the study, moreover, provides a model for bilateral efforts to obtain reliable emigration data for nations lacking comprehensive emigration registration systems.