On Campus

Children of Canadian immigrants more educated

65% university completion rate for children of immigrants from China and India

From Statistics Canada:

Children of immigrants tend to achieve higher levels of education than children of Canadian-born parents, but there are wide differences in rates of completing university among young people of different national origins. Youth of Asian immigrant parents, except for Filipinos, had higher rates of obtaining a university degree by the time they were aged 25 to 34 in 2002 than most youth of European origin.

University completion rates ranged from over 65% for youth of immigrant parents from China and India to 24% among second-generation German and Central and South American youth. As a benchmark, about 28% of the children of Canadian-born parents had completed university by the time they were aged 25 to 34. Nearly one-third of youth whose parents were from the Caribbean, Portugal and the Netherlands completed university education.

The higher university completion rates among children of Chinese and Indian immigrants remained when differences among the youth in abilities in the two official languages and parental educational levels were taken into account. These are important factors that influence the likelihood of youth completing university.

Among Europeans, differences in university education attainment within second-generation youth were relatively small after group differences in family background were taken into account.

Looking for more?

Get the Best of Maclean's sent straight to your inbox. Sign up for news, commentary and analysis.
  • By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy. You may unsubscribe at any time.