Canada is aging –the ratio of Canadians age 65 and over to Canadians age 18-64 – the old-age dependency (OAD) ratio – is climbing steeply. Many people look to immigration as an antidote to aging. But immigration alone cannot do much.
In this edition of Graphic Intelligence, we project the OAD under two scenarios motivated by the Advisory Council on Economic Growth’s recommendations: a constant immigration level at 450,000 each year, and another which maintains an immigration growth rate relative to the already-resident population. Not much effect either way.
Add later retirement, however, and the future is much brighter. Canada needs other policies to complement immigration in confronting the challenges of aging on future living standards.
To read more on this topic, read "Inflated Expectations: More Immigrants Can’t Solve Canada’s Aging Problem on Their Own," by William B.P. Robson and Parisa Mahboubi.
