As we enter into the twenty-first century, there will be more older people requiring pensions, and in need of extra health care, but there will not be enough young workers entering the job market to support these needs. The fertility rate in Canada is roughly 1.66, which is below the replacement rate of 2.1 and less than half the fertility rate of 3.63 during the baby boom. Despite the number of children is currently growing because the large number of baby boomers are having children, "this so-called echo effect will have run its course by the early part of the next century so that, in the absence of much higher immigration, Canada's population will begin to decline." .

             According to Statistics Canada, the Canadian population will stabilize at 31 million in 2026 if the fertility rate of 1.66 is maintained and 140 000 immigrants are accepted per year, and it will then begin to decline. If the rate of immigration is raised to 200 000 per year, the population will stabilize in 2035, at 34 million, before it begins to decline. .

             The immigrant population is older, on average, than the Canadian-born population because immigrants tend to arrive in their prime working years. Also, it must be noted that children born to immigrants are included in the Canadian-born population rather than the immigrant population. .

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             Secondly, of all immigrants accepted into Canada, close to 50% are in the economic class consisting of business immigrants and skilled workers. (See Table 2, Immigration Levels, 1998 Canada, Quebec* and Other Provinces) Most immigrants tend to arrive in their prime working years. Immigrants living in Canada are more likely than people born in Canada to have a university degree, in 1991, 14% of immigrants aged 15 and over had a university degree, while only 11% of people born in Canada had a university degree. Immigrants with post-secondary qualifications are more likely than those born in Canada with post-secondary qualifications to be graduates of professional programs in engineering, mathematics, and applied science.