SUMMARY

responding increase in the proportion of immigrants as between 1901 on the one hand and
1911 and 1921 on the other. At the latter date 8 p.c. more of the population was foreign
born than in 1901. The proportion of our population born in North Western Europe was
80 p.c. greater in 1911 than in 1901, and the proportion born in South, Eastern and Central
Europe almost trebled in that decade. Since the beginning of the century, the proportion
of our population born in South, Eastern and Central Europe has been greater than that
born in the North and West of Europe, and the disparity between the numbers of the
foreign born from the two sections of the continent has become progressively more marked.
In 1901 the numbers were about equal, but by 1921 the foreign born from South, Eastern
and Central Europe exceeded those from North Western Continental Europe, by two and
a half times. There has thus been a shifting of the weight of immigrant population from
the Germanic and Scandinavian to the Slavic and Latin countries. These points are presented
 graphically in Charts 2 and 3.
CuarT IIT

PERCENTAGES or EUROPEAN IMMIGRANTS in CANADA #row
NormWestern ano Soutr, Eastern ano Centrar Eurore in 1901 anp 1921

Norte western EUROPE

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11

77

SOUTHEASTERN £1 \D OPE

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AGE, SEX AND CONJUGAL CONDITION
Age—Among the Canadian born, the proportion of children under 15 was nearly four
times greater than among the foreign born, and over five times greater than among the
other British born. Over against this comparative paucity of immigrant children, both the
foreign and British born show much larger proportions in the prime of life. The social effect
of such radical differences in age distribution is illustrated in subsequent parts of the report.
especially in that dealing with eriminality.
Equally significant are the differences in age distribution between the various stocks
in Canada. A group classified on the basis of original extraction includes not only the
foreign born, but also their Canadian born children, and thus has a more or less real and
distinct existence as a population group. Differences in the age distribution of the different
stocks suggest, among other things, differences in fertility. Among the Slavs and Latins
and ‘Greeks in Canada, the proportions under 10 years of age were greater by half than
those of British origin, and more than a quarter greater than those of German or Scandinavian
 origin. The percentage of those of French origin, under 10 years of age was about
midway between that for the Slavs and that for the Scandinavians.
Sex—As in tha case of age, differences in sex distribution have an important bearing
on criminality and law enforcement; indirectly, sex differences also throw light on the differing
 behaviour of immigrant peoples in respect to permanency of residence in Canada and
in such social phenomena as intermarriage, ete. Marked differences in the numbers of the
sexes exist as between the various origins in Canada, but of more direct interest are the
differences in the sex composition of the immigrant groups. (See Chart 4.) In 1921, the
immigrants from British countries showed a surplus of 14 males for every 100 females,
those from South, Eastern and Central Europe, a surplus of 46, and those of North Western
European birth a surplus of 50. The Asiatic immigrants led with over seven times as many